MURRIETA ROTARY, FIRE & RESCUE DEPARTMENT TEAM UP ON LIFE-SAVING PROGRAM

The Rotary Club of Murrieta presented the Murrieta Fire and Rescue Department with a $10,000 donation enabling it to purchase PulsePoint, a system capable of increasing the survival rate of sudden cardiac arrests in the City of Murrieta.

The check was presented following a presentation by Jennifer Antonucci, the Department’s EMS coordinator.  Antonucci pointed out that “only 10% of patients survive a sudden cardiac arrest, and the goal of the partnership with Rotary is to improve on that 10%.”

The PulsePoint application is available for free download to smartphones, and once it is implemented in Murrieta, residents will be invited to download it on their smartphones or other portable electronic devices.  When a citizen dials 911 to report a medical emergency and the patient is not breathing, the app will engage and app users who have indicated they are trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and willing to assist in case of an emergency can be notified if someone nearby is having a cardiac emergency and may require CPR.

If the cardiac emergency is in a public place, the location-aware application will alert users in the vicinity of the need for CPR simultaneous with the dispatch of advanced medical care.  The application also directs these potential rescuers to the exaction location of the closes Automated External Defibrillator (AED).