A new app urges Alachua County residents to save a life

A new app for Alachua County could be the difference between life and death for people suffering from cardiac arrest.

The app, PulsePoint, alerts users if there is someone within a quarter mile radius suffering from cardiac arrest in a public place, said Harold Theus, the Alachua County Fire Rescue deputy chief. It directs citizens to their location and shows them how to perform chest compressions until emergency responders arrive. It also directs users to the nearest automated external defibrillator.

Theus believes that the app will be an asset to the community.

“This PulsePoint impetus pushes us forward to train more and more people to get CPR,” Theus said.

The county has been looking into using PulsePoint for several years, but cost prevented it from happening, Theus said.

The app was finally made available through a $10,000 donation by the Jerome H. Modell, M.D., Professorship of Anesthesiology, said Jeff Taylor, the assistant chief of Alachua County Emergency Medical Services.

EMS has been working with UF Health to find areas where they don’t see CPR happening before arrival and will target those areas to teach life-saving measures at community functions, Taylor said.

Grace Kellaher, a 21-year-old UF applied physiology and kinesiology senior, plans to download PulsePoint and use her CPR training to help the community.

“I think all students could benefit from downloading this app,” she said. “It’s not just for health students.”