‘The platform has become obsolete': Albuquerque Fire Rescue ditches PulsePoint app
**Editor's note: The video above is part of separate related coverage on heart disease.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – An app that notifies CPR-trained citizens that someone nearby is experiencing a cardiac emergency, in hopes that the trained individual would respond and provide life-saving care, is no longer being used by Albuquerque Fire Rescue.
AFR announced that it has decided not to renew its paid subscription to the app PulsePoint, saying it has become 'obsolete.' In addition to cardiac emergencies, the PulsePoint app displays information about other types of calls firefighters and/or EMTs are dispatched to, such as fires, crashes, hazmat incidents, alarms, medical emergencies, and more. Users also could see the exact address crews were dispatched to, which AFR said is a privacy issue.
'Members of the public were not using it to respond to provide bystander CPR,' AFR Lt. Jason Fejer wrote in an email to KRQE.
Bernalillo County installs speed cameras on some state roads
According to Fejer, in the 10 years that AFR has utilized PulsePoint, the department is only aware of two instances of bystanders reporting to on-scene crews that they were notified via PulsePoint.
If someone should need help in a cardiac emergency, Fejer said AFR dispatchers can coach members of the public on how to perform CPR over the phone. He also said AFR's use of the 'GoodSAM' platform allows dispatchers to do a video call with 911 callers to help instruct them on how to perform CPR.
AFR is hoping to use the $13,000 it set aside for PulsePoint each year for community training. 'AFR determined the funding would be better served to enhance our Lifesaver program which teaches members of the public how to perform hands only CPR, naloxone administration, and bleeding control,' Fejer stated.
According to a post by AFR on Facebook, the department is looking into other options for the media and the public to follow AFR's responses.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
2 days ago
- Fox News
Defibrillator installed on Everest winds up saving climber's life just weeks later
A man who climbed Mount Everest to install a defibrillator there says the device wound up saving a woman's life just three weeks afterward. David Sullivan, 62, made the journey to the Himalayas to place the lifesaving device on the mountain. He believes it is the world's highest-positioned defibrillator, sitting more than 16,000 feet above sea level, according to news agency SWNS. After losing four close friends — all under age 45 — to sudden cardiac arrest, Sullivan founded Code Blue CPR. He began traveling the globe as an advocate to provide CPR training and install life-saving equipment in hard-to-reach places. Earlier this year, Sullivan climbed to an altitude of 22,000 feet to test a defibrillator. He then descended to a village near Everest Base Camp to install it for emergency use. Sullivan returned home to Surrey on April 30, glad about what he'd accomplished — but with no idea how quickly his work would make an impact. Just three weeks later, he got a phone call. "It was … Friday (May 23), at around 3:45 a.m.," Sullivan told SWNS. "I have kids traveling the world, so I initially thought, 'Oh my God, something's happened.'" He added, "But it was a Sherpa [a Tibetan mountain guide] who told me the defibrillator had been activated and saved a 30-year-old woman's life," Sullivan said. "It was the proudest moment of my life." "I hope it will help people realize how important it is to have access to defibrillators." The rescue confirmed why he'd taken on the physically and emotionally demanding journey. While in the Himalayas, Sullivan didn't just install the defibrillator - he also trained local Sherpas and villagers, many of whom had never received emergency medical instruction, according to SWNS. "It is incredible that something so simple can save someone's life - and I hope it will help people realize how important it is to have access to defibrillators," Sullivan said. "Being within three minutes of a defibrillator increases your chance of survival from 8% to more than 50%," he added. For Sullivan, there's another personal angle. "It was the proudest moment of my life." He once had to use his CPR training just months after learning it himself. "I performed nine minutes of CPR for a young man and used a defibrillator just three months after I had been shown how to," he told SWNS. "While I was doing this, around 30 people just watched and didn't help - because they didn't know how." When the young man's mother called him the next day to say her son was alive, Sullivan said it changed his life. "I knew then that everyone should know how to save a life," Sullivan said. Now, Sullivan wants to dedicate himself to reshaping others' lives. He is moving forward with a plan to train 1.2 million students in CPR through a school initiative. "We want every school to have a new defibrillator and every person in the school - students, teachers, staff - to have all the training necessary to save someone's life," he told SWNS. "We won't stop until we achieve that," he also said.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Hawai'i's CPR training campaign launched by Heart Association
HONOLULU (KHON2) — The American Heart Association Hawai'i is rolling out its first-ever Community Impact Days this week, aiming to empower residents with life-saving CPR skills during CPR and AED Awareness Week, observed from June 1 to 7. Spectra Fest bringing the community together AHA Hawai'i's Community Impact Director Elizabeth Cotterell, alongside Dory Clisham, training manager at American Medical Response, spoke about the initiative with Chris Latronic live from the AHA headquarters on Richards Street. The campaign focuses on Hands-Only CPR training, particularly important as children head into summer and spend more time away from trained adults like teachers and coaches. The push comes with a sobering statistic: more than 350,000 people suffer cardiac arrest outside of a hospital each year in the U.S., and about 70% of those incidents occur at home. Without immediate intervention, 90% of these cases are fatal.'CPR can double or even triple someone's chance of survival,' Cotterell said. 'And kids as young as 9 years old can learn it.' As part of its centennial year, the American Heart Association is calling on every family in Hawai'i to help build a 'Nation of Lifesavers'—a movement to ensure that anyone, anywhere is ready to respond during a cardiac emergency. The organization has set an ambitious goal: double the survival rate for cardiac arrest by 2030. Free Hands-Only CPR training sessions will be held this Saturday, June 7, at the Waimānalo Health Center, open to all members of the community. Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news For more information or to register, visit: Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Albuquerque native injured in machete attack in downtown Los Angeles
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – An Albuquerque native was one of the victims of a violent machete attack in downtown Los Angeles that left another man dead. Although the 35-year-old chef survived this attack, he has a long road to recovery ahead. Story continues below Community:ABQ bus driver speaks out on her experience of safety issues on Central route News:Homeland Security: 11 people arrested at New Mexico dairy were 'undocumented' Trending:Mexican gray wolf Asha gives birth to litter of pups Food: Two Albuquerque restaurants make Yelp's 'Top 50 Cheap Eats' list It was a typical night for Kyle Levitt, he was walking home after his shift at a restaurant. But the walk home quickly turned violent. As Levitt went to grab his keys to unlock the doorhe heard footsteps running towards him, 'As soon as I went to look up to see the reflection in our lobby door, that's when I had noticed the reflection of a man, and that the running noise had come from him…then that's when the attack started.' recalled Kyle Levitt. Levitt later learned, he was the second person to be attacked that night. A few blocks away, police say the same suspect attacked a 60-year-old man with the same machete and killed him. The attacker hit Levitt from behind, slashing his neck, ear, head, and body. Levitt called for the man to stop and turned around, the man then knocking him to the ground slashing his wrist with the machete then running away, 'That's when I noticed half of my hand had been cut through. So I, both of my tendons leading to my thumb were severed, my Artery was severed in my wrist, the cut went down to the joint of my wrist,' emphasized Levitt. The attack left Levitt with a skull fracture and staples on his head and neck. But worst of all, it left him without the full functionality of both of his hands. As a chef, he's left unable to work, saying it could take months to regain mobility. Levitt was born in raised in New Mexico, but has lived in LA for the last 11 years. He hopes to be back in the kitchen soon, where he hopes to achieve his goal of bringing New Mexican cuisine to Los Angeles. A Go Fund Me page has been set up to help him pay for medical bills and unforeseen expenses as he recovers. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
