Free app helps save Seattle man after heart attack
Published 1:30 am Thursday, October 20, 2016
By GENE JOHNSON
Associated Press
SEATTLE — If you’re going to have a heart attack, right outside a hospital is not a bad place to do it.
And it’s even better if 41 people within a 330-yard radius have a cellphone app alerting them to your distress.
That’s what happened in Seattle last week when 60-year-old Stephen DeMont collapsed at a bus stop in front of University of Washington Medical Center.
While a medical student rushed over and began chest compressions, a cardiac nurse just getting off her shift at the hospital was alerted by her phone, sprinted outside and assisted until paramedics arrived.
Five days later, DeMont is walking, smiling and talking about how the PulsePoint app helped save his life.
Seattle officials say the rescue shows the potential the free download has for connecting CPR-trained citizens with patients who urgently need their help.
The app is being used in 2,000 U.S. cities in 28 states.
