Hancock Health and Hancock County 911 Bring Lifesaving Technology via an Integrated Mobile App
(February 14, 2018 – Greenfield, IN) Hancock Health, Hancock County 911 Center and Emergency Medical Services leaders have joined forces to bring the lifesaving PulsePoint app to Hancock County. The free mobile app alerts citizens trained in hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) when someone in a nearby public place suffers sudden cardiac arrest. Hancock County 911 Center will send alerts through the app at the same time they dispatch first responders to the scene. The app also notifies users of the closest available automated external defibrillator (AED).
“Each year, approximately 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside a hospital setting in the United States,” said Dr. Stephanie Gardner, Hancock Regional Hospital emergency department and medical project lead. “Nearly 90 percent of these events prove fatal, and the chance of survival decreases by ten percent with every passing minute without CPR. This cutting-edge technology can save lives by alerting people who can start CPR before first responders arrive. With a sudden cardiac arrest, seconds count.”
Hancock Health and Hancock County 911 Center were instrumental in bringing PulsePoint to Hancock County. “It was important to us for this to be a county-wide initiative,” said Craig Felty, vice president of nursing and Chief Nursing Officer for Hancock Health. “Our two organizations were able to bring all of our partners and resources to the table to make sure this would save lives across Hancock County.”
The American Heart Association estimates that effective hands-only CPR provided immediately after a cardiac emergency can double or triple a person’s chance of survival, but only 46 percent of sudden cardiac arrest victims received bystander CPR in 2016. Even fewer receive a potentially lifesaving therapeutic shock from a public access AED.
“We are very excited to become the second county in the State of Indiana to use the PulsePoint phone app. Our goal is to get properly trained citizens as well as off-duty first responders to a patient as quickly as possible to save lives,” said John Jokantas, Director of Communications for the Hancock County 911 Center. “Every project we have done, including PulsePoint, over the last three years at the 911 Center serves one purpose, to increase the quality of life in Hancock County. We are very proud to partner with Hancock Regional Hospital in this project.”
Anyone with a smartphone can download the free PulsePoint Respond app through the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Once the user installs the app, select the agency serving the area where you live or work to receive alerts. PulsePoint is currently active in more than 2,500 cities across the country.
For more information, please visit www.hancockregional.org/pulsepoint or www.pulsepoint.org.
About Hancock County 911 Center
The Hancock County 911 Center was formed in October of 2008 from a consolidation of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department 911 Center and the Greenfield Police Department 911 Center. Hancock County 911 serves a population of approximately 75,000 people and dispatches for 17 public safety agencies within Hancock County. For information or questions, please contact (317) 477-0180, visit our website https://hancockcoingov.org/ or visit our Facebook page.
About Hancock Health
Hancock Health is an Indiana-based, full-service healthcare network serving Hancock County and the surrounding areas. Our health system includes Hancock Regional Hospital, Hancock Physician Network and more than 20 other healthcare facilities, such as wellness centers, women’s clinics, family practices, and the Sue Ann Wortman Cancer Center. For more information, please contact us at (317) 462.5544, visit our website at www.hancockregional.org or our Facebook page.
About the PulsePoint Foundation
PulsePoint is a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Through the use of location-aware mobile devices, PulsePoint is building applications that work with local public safety agencies to improve communications with citizens and off-duty personnel, empowering them to help reduce the millions of annual deaths from sudden cardiac arrest. Learn more at pulsepoint.org or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. The free app is available for download on iTunes and Google Play.
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Contacts
Hancock County 911 Center | John Jokantas | Director of Communications| 317.477.0180 | jjokantas@hancockcoingov.org
Hancock Health | Jenn Cox | Director of Marketing | 317.468.4376 | jcox3@hancockregional.org
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