When a call comes in, REMSA Emergency Medical Dispatchers waste no time triaging symptoms, deploying first responders and supporting whoever is on the other end of their line.
"Okay, so stay on the phone,” instructs Piper at the dispatch center. “I'm going to tell you how to start chest compressions. Listen carefully."
Dispatchers are trained to empower everyday citizens to jump into action if someone has a cardiac event because every second counts. "Every minute that goes by decreases the chance you're going to survive a cardiac arrest,” explains REMSA Director of Communications, Adam Heinz.
Now there is another tool to help, too.
REMSA invested in PulsePoint Respond technology. The smart phone application covers all of Washoe County, Reno and Sparks. It alerts citizens who opt-in to help when someone is having a cardiac emergency in a public place within a quarter mile of your location. "Somebody maybe at the mall or at the movie theater; it allows you the opportunity to decide if you want to respond and perform life-saving CPR."
The app not only provides the location, it also includes a metronome to help with the cadence of chest compressions and it notifies you of the closest automated external defibrillator (AED).
Heinz says high-quality compressions - not even mouth-to-mouth – until paramedics arrive increase the chance of survival.
"We know 350,000 people suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrest a year. Big number. If we can get our citizens engaged through this technology, we increase the chances that somebody may live."
To learn more about the PulsePoint app and REMSA CPR classes, log on to https://remsaeducation.enrollware.com/schedule
