To aid cardiac arrest victims quickly, the Los Angeles County Fire Department, The PulsePoint Foundation and The Wireless Foundation officially launched the PulsePoint app in Los Angeles County on August 6. Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas joined Fire Chief Daryl Osby, PulsePoint Founder Richard Price and other members of the project team at the Department’s press conference held at a local Home Depot store in the City of Inglewood to let the public know about this new app. 
Aimed at average citizens and off-duty professionals trained in CPR, the app alerts registered users when a sudden cardiac arrest occurs in a public place in their immediate vicinity. Informed at the same time as emergency responders, users are given detailed instructions, including the location of automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) nearby.
Prior to the press conference, more than 13,000 people in Los Angeles County had already downloaded the app, but following the event’s tremendous news coverage, the PulsePoint Foundation reported that 50 people have downloaded the app every hour since. Thanks to generous funding from The Wireless Foundation, local promotional campaigns are in development to help raise awareness among the County’s more than 4 million residents, including advertising campaigns on Facebook and Twitter.
The leading cause of death in the U.S., cardiac arrests outside hospitals are responsible for more than 1,000 deaths a day and 424,000 a year. Effective CPR administered immediately after a cardiac arrest can potentially double or triple the victim’s chance of survival, but less than half of victims receive that immediate help.
“Widespread deployment of the PulsePoint app can significantly strengthen the Chain of Survival by increasing the chance that lifesaving steps will be taken by CPR-trained individuals prior to the arrival of our personnel,” said Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby. “Mobile technology can help us build safer, more resilient communities throughout Los Angeles County.”
In addition to the PulsePoint app, the Los Angeles County Fire Department will be launching the PulsePoint AED app to help locate and record all public access defibrillators in the county for use during cardiac arrest emergencies. Once validated, these crowdsourced AED will be visible in the PulsePoint app as well as for dispatcher use during emergency calls. The PulsePoint app and PulsePoint AED apps are available on Android and iOS (Apple).