Without the quick actions of people at a high school soccer game, Michael Chaison says he never would have seen the birth of his grandson.
"I was in great shape, good health," he said. "It just goes to show, you just never know where, when it's going to happen."
Chaison was reffing a game at Salpointe High School about two years ago when he had a heart attack on the field. An off-duty fire captain ran over to begin CPR and thankfully the school had a defibrillator.
"Had it not been for the AED there, I probably would not be here today," said Chaison.
Now Chaison advocates for the use of AEDs. He spoke at an event Wednesday launching the use of the PulsePoint app in the greater Tucson area.
With the free PulsePoint app, when someone calls 911, the information that's sent out through dispatch also gets sent to the app.
That means if you have the app and someone nearby you is having a heart attack, you will receive a notification showing you where that person is so you can begin CPR before emergency crews arrive.
"Every minute that somebody is without a pulse, their chances of survival drop 10 percent," said Tucson Fire Assistant Chief Joe Gulotta. "If it takes us four to five minutes to get there, that's a 50 percent drop in survival. If we can get a rescuer that's in the building right next door to their side within that first minute, we've just increased their survival rate tremendously."
Rural/Metro Fire has been using the PulsePoint app for a couple of years now. With Tucson Fire Department joining in, officials say 95 percent of the Tucson area is now covered by the app.
The app will receive dispatch information from 10 different local agencies.
In addition to sending you a notification when someone needs CPR, the app will also lead you to the nearest AED.
Businesses have to register their AED through the app in order for it to show up on the map.
"There are survivor stories from all over the country with this app," said Gulotta. "So our hope is we're going to be able to get a citizen rescuer to the side of a victim before the rescuers from the fire department arrive and start CPR as soon as possible."
