WSVN — A new app could save thousands of lives, but fire officials need you to get involved. 7’s Craig Stevens has the exclusive look at how you could potentially save a life.
Two years ago, Pamela Rauseo pulled her 5-year-old nephew’s lifeless body from the back of her car, knelt on the asphalt of the Dolphin Expressway and began to give him CPR.
Pamela Rauseo: "Whenever I look at those pictures, I cry because just seeing him and seeing the color of his skin that day, it hits home… how close he was to dying."
Rauseo had learned CPR years before, but in a state of panic, she almost forgot she knew how to do it.
Pamela Rauseo: "I came out of that car screaming for help for somebody else to help me, and of the people that approached, none of them knew how to perform CPR."
Not surprising, since only 30 percent of Americans know how to do CPR, which means the odds of having a trained rescuer nearby in an emergency are pretty slim.
That’s why the Fort Lauderdale Fire Department has added a new tool to their life saving arsenal.
It’s an app called "Pulse Point Respond." People who know how to do CPR register themselves on the app and if there is a cardiac emergency near them, they will get an alert.
Capt. Greg May, Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue: "Your phone will give you a notification. It’ll set off a tone, you look, it’ll tell you there’s a person in cardiac arrest within 200 feet of your area."
The app also tells citizen rescuers if there is an automated external defibrillator, which shocks the heart into rhythm in the building.
Capt. Greg May: "We’ve gone so far in Fort Lauderdale as to put pictures so it’s detailed."
But to work, the app needs Fort Lauderdale citizens trained in rescue techniques… including the easy-to-learn hands only CPR.
Capt. Greg May: "All you do is take your hands, apply it on somebody’s chest and just do compressions."
Mayor Jack Seiler hopes the app will help save lives.
Jack Seiler, Fort Lauderdale Mayor: "We’ve been focused on trying to make our neighbors better prepared to save lives, our neighbors better prepared to respond to emergencies."
Pamela says thankfully for her nephew Sebastian… she knew how to save a life.
Pamela Rauseo: "There’s something special in all of us and there is something special that we’re meant to give back, and I know someday he’s going to fulfill that… whatever it is."
As of now, the app is available in four cities in South Florida, including Miami Beach, Miramar, Sunrise and now Fort Lauderdale. If you want to get involved, check out the following links for the app and training.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Pulse Point Respond:
http://www.pulsepoint.org/pulsepoint-respond/
Hands Only CPR Classes:
http://broward.floridahealth.gov/newsroom/2015/09/free-cpr-092215.html