RAPID CITY, S.D. (KELO) — In honor of ‘Heart Month’, the Rapid City Fire Department is urging everyone to download the app PulsePoint, an app that could potentially save a life.

Cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death among people in the U.S. and the world.
With PulsePoint, people are alerted when someone is having a heart attack nearby so they can quickly respond to perform CPR.

For every minute that a person doesn’t get help, the survival rate decreases by seven to 10 percent.

“This app allows folks to initiate quick and to be able to start CPR fast. We have found that doing CPR early, right away after sudden cardiac arrest, increases survivability for that arrest significantly,” Chief Jason Culberson, Rapid City Fire Dept., said.

Over 4,000 communities, millions of people across the country have PulsePoint. Firefighter and Paramedic, Jim Bussell, says the app helps emergency services before they arrive.

“Time is tissue, time is heart muscle and there is no time to waste. We have known in emergency services and in the health care profession for decades that immediate bystander CPR, immediate defibrillation is key to survival rates,” Bussell said.

That’s why the Rapid City Fire Department believes it is important to share this message during ‘Heart Month.’

“February is heart month so we wanted to start off on the right foot and encourage people to download our app and learn CPR,” Chief Culberson said.

You do not have to be CPR certified to download PulsePoint. There are instructions on the American Heart Association and Red Cross websites that explain how to perform hands-only CPR. The Sioux Falls community is also connected to the PulsePoint App.