BROKEN ARROW, Okla. - A potentially lifesaving app is now circulating in Broken Arrow. Thanks to funding from Saint Francis Hospital South, in partnership with the Broken Arrow Fire Department, PulsePoint is now available in the city.
Residents can download the app for free on any smartphone. A dispatch system alerts users of cardiac arrest events happening near them, and where the closest AED is located. This allows residents to provide quick response and start performing CPR while medical professionals head to the scene.
One teacher at Centennial Middle School knows firsthand how this can safe a life.
Eighth grade teacher Roger Green was heading to the press box back in March to announce the varsity baseball game, but he began to feel achy.
"I was getting ready to play the National Anthem and my heart stopped, and so I collapsed and fell right into his lap and he caught me and laid me on the floor," said Green.
The other coach next to him immediately started performing CPR on Green while others called 911. First responders arrived in four minutes, and shocked Green multiple times with an AED.
"I don't remember anything other than I heard one of the paramedics say 'we have a pulse' and it was definitely a miracle," said Green.
Green now walks strong eight months after his heart attack preaching to others the importance of learning CPR and using those skills in case of an emergency.
"Doing fast heart compressions on the chest is absolutely better than nothing if someone doesn't have a pulse and respirations," said Chief Jeremy Moore with the Broken Arrow Fire Department.
As Roger Green experienced earlier this year, in an emergency every second counts.
"Doctors told me if Paul had not started CPR within 15 or 20 seconds that I would've had permanent brain damage," said Green.
The Broken Arrow Fire Department responded to 175 cardiac arrest events so far this year. They hope residents download the PulsePoint app, and learn the importance of performing CPR.
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