La Porte County looking into app that locates AEDs in emergencies

LA PORTE, Ind. - The city of La Porte is making every effort to create a heart safe community.

The Health Foundation of La Porte approached Assistant Director of La Porte County E-911 Matt Deckard about working on a Pulse Point app.

Through PulsePoint, registered AEDs are accessible to emergency call takers and disclosed to those nearby during cardiac arrest events. According to PulsePoint, sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of preventable death.

Deckard says an alert will be sent to the community upon a 911 call. A notification about a person in need of CPR will be sent to anyone within a quarter of a mile of the location.

He says it is voluntary to download the app. If you’re certified in CPR, you can provide CPR assistance until professional help arrives.

According to a statistic from the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, the survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is 10%. That climbs to 30% when given CPR from a bystander and 50% when CPR and an AED are both used.

“Truly what we’re trying to do is better the outcome for everybody. And if this app and the CPR training LaPorte Fire Department is training and everyone that has come together on, this is what we’re really trying to accomplish,” Deckard said.

This comes after all of La Porte County's law enforcement vehicles were granted 26 AEDs in November and the Health Foundation granted 27 AEDs to different organizations. Additionally, the county is currently installing AEDs in its own government buildings.

The La Porte Fire Department offers free CPR classes to the community. They are taught monthly with the goal of installing training and confidence in the event of a sudden cardiac arrest. More than 1,500 people have been trained since the start of the program.

“The agencies all are willing to come to the table and spend time and effort to make that we’re attending the needs of the public,” President and CEO of the Health Foundation of La Porte Maria Fruth said.