Paramedics/EMTs could save more lives now

Posted at 12:30 p.m. on August 14, 2018

The Brillion News

MENASHA – A new program will allow off-duty Gold Cross paramedics and EMTs to provide life-saving care when someone nearby experiences a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in a private residence.

PulsePoint Verified Responder was launched in June through a partnership with the PulsePoint Foundation, HeartStart Foundation and Gold Cross Ambulance Service.

“With Verified Responder, we now have the new opportunity to send off-duty, professional paramedics and EMTs from Gold Cross Ambulance into a home or private location in response to a cardiac arrest,” said Mark Fredrickson, executive director of Gold Cross. “We are honored to be one of the first organizations in the country to offer this to our community. The program will dramatically broaden our impact to save lives.”

In June 2017, Gold Cross partnered with the HeartStart Foundation, ThedaCare Family of Foundations and the Fox Valley Emergency Medicine group to improve cardiac arrest survival rates by notifying CPR-trained citizen volunteers when someone is experiencing a cardiac arrest in a nearby public location.

But the majority of cardiac arrests in the Fox Valley, and across the nation, occur at home, which is why the addition of Verified Responder is so important.

PulsePoint Verified Responder utilizes the PulsePoint app and alerts trained responders of an SCA in private locations. Participating professionals from Gold Cross are certified emergency medical technicians (EMTs) or paramedics who receive background checks as part of employment.

More than 350,000 Americans each year suffer an out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) where the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. Nearly 90 percent are fatal. However, if treated early with CPR and in some cases defibrillation, a victim’s chances of survival can double or even triple.

“Our paramedics and EMTs spend their careers giving back to the communities we serve, and we are excited to be able to make our team members available to those suffering from cardiac arrest, both on-duty and now off-duty as well, 24-hours a day,” said Nick Romenesko, clinical and quality manager at Gold Cross Ambulance. “We look forward to utilizing the Verified Responder program and are eager to make a significant impact to those in need of help.”

The PulsePoint app is free to the community and can be downloaded from the Google Play or Apple Store. There are 1,292 PulsePoint users in the Fox Valley region. The app is now in nearly 3,000 communities in 42 states with more than 1,100,000 users nationwide.