PulsePoint app debuts in Anchorage

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Alaska’s largest city is the newest member of a long list of cities across the U.S. utilizing technology to increase public safety.

An app called PulsePoint connects to 911 emergency services and launched in Anchorage on Friday.

The app allows CPR-trained citizens in the area to respond to alerts of cardiac events, provides an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) database and alerts community members of emergency activities, according to a press release issued by the Anchorage Fire Department, Chugiak Fire Department and Girdwood Fire Department on Friday.

Fairbanks was the first city in Alaska to introduce PulsePoint in 2021. According to PulsePoint, the app is live in 4,400 communities, from Winnipeg, to Seattle, Los Angeles, and more. PulsePoint estimates they have over 900,000 active users in the U.S and Canada.

Anchorage Fire Department Assistant Chief Alex Boyd looks forward to the app coming to Anchorage.

“We’re proud to announce that we are going to be a PulsePoint-connected community here in Anchorage in conjunction with the start of Heart Month,” Boyd said. “What it does is It connects citizens of Anchorage to their emergency response system, allowing them to be a part of our cardiac survival chain and help us, as well as serve their community by providing CPR.”

Boyd said that crowdsourcing CPR saves lives in the event of a cardiac emergency.

“Every minute counts,” Boyd said. “Every second that CPR is not being done reduces the likelihood of survival of that event.”

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