Alpharetta Fire wants you to download the PulsePoint app

ALPHARETTA, Georgia. – The Alpharetta Fire Department is encouraging as many people as possible to download an app designed to send an alert when someone is having a heart attack or needs CPR.

The app is called PulsePoint, and according to Alpharetta Fire, you don't need to be a medical expert to use it.

PulsePoint alerts users when someone is experiencing a cardiac emergency in their area, so they can respond and potentially help save a life. It also shows the location of nearby automated external defibrillators (AEDs), which can potentially save the life of someone having a heart attack.

Tim Ade is one of those people. This terrifying moment happened to him at the Windward Lake Club in Alpharetta last November.

“I had a cardiac arrest and I collapsed more than once between then and when I got to the hospital,” Ade said. “I was playing paddleball with a group of my friends, and I sat down and leaned against the fence, and I told my friends I didn’t feel good. And shortly after that, I passed out.”

Ade's friends were frantically looking for a way to help her. Luckily, they were able to find an AED at the nearby clubhouse, buying Ade precious seconds until paramedics arrived.

“They were my heroes that day,” he said.

Ian Cassuto, communications and social media manager for Alpharetta Fire, says even the few minutes before responders arrive can mean the difference between life and death.

“Every minute after a cardiac arrest, a person loses approximately 10% of their chances of survival. So we know we'll get there as quickly as possible as first responders, but we're not there immediately. So if people are there and can actually provide care until we arrive, you can double or even triple people's chances of survival,” Cassuto said.

That's why they want as many people in Alpharetta and Milton to download PulsePoint as possible. Emergency services from both cities have teamed up to use the service. PulsePoint doesn't just show you where nearby AEDs are located.

“So once you're there, if you've forgotten how to do CPR, or you just want to help and you haven't learned, the system gives you step-by-step instructions,” Cassuto said.

Cassuto says this is important because even if you don't resuscitate the person, performing CPR on them can still help them tremendously.

“People don’t necessarily realize that CPR isn’t necessarily going to bring the person back to life until we get there. But it does get oxygenated blood flowing through the body. So it keeps the organs in the body, the critical organs, oxygenated and alive until we can get there and take over as advanced life support,” Cassuto said.

After his near-death experience, Ade says he sees how valuable this app can be.

“The friends of mine who saved my life, if they had had the app, they would have been able to react very, very quickly, even faster than them. So if this becomes widespread and everyone has it “I think we're going to be able to save more lives,” Ade said.

And Cassuto says if you respond to an emergency using the app, you're covered by Georgia's “Good Samaritan law.” And even if you get the alert on your phone, you don't have to respond to it.