**Editor’s note: The video above is part of separate related coverage on heart disease.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – An app that notifies CPR-trained citizens that someone nearby is experiencing a cardiac emergency, in hopes that the trained individual would respond and provide life-saving care, is no longer being used by Albuquerque Fire Rescue.
AFR announced that it has decided not to renew its paid subscription to the app PulsePoint, saying it has become “obsolete.” In addition to cardiac emergencies, the PulsePoint app displays information about other types of calls firefighters and/or EMTs are dispatched to, such as fires, crashes, hazmat incidents, alarms, medical emergencies, and more. Users also could see the exact address crews were dispatched to, which AFR said is a privacy issue.
“Members of the public were not using it to respond to provide bystander CPR,” AFR Lt. Jason Fejer wrote in an email to KRQE.
According to Fejer, in the 10 years that AFR has utilized PulsePoint, the department is only aware of two instances of bystanders reporting to on-scene crews that they were notified via PulsePoint.
If someone should need help in a cardiac emergency, Fejer said AFR dispatchers can coach members of the public on how to perform CPR over the phone. He also said AFR’s use of the “GoodSAM” platform allows dispatchers to do a video call with 911 callers to help instruct them on how to perform CPR.
AFR is hoping to use the $13,000 it set aside for PulsePoint each year for community training. “AFR determined the funding would be better served to enhance our Lifesaver program which teaches members of the public how to perform hands only CPR, naloxone administration, and bleeding control,” Fejer stated.
According to a post by AFR on Facebook, the department is looking into other options for the media and the public to follow AFR’s responses.