Clinton County residents can now use a mobile app to get informed about emergency situations, like fires, medical calls and vehicle crashes.
The Clinton County Department of Emergency Services officially launched the PulsePoint app earlier this month.
“There's a lot of community members that, you know, they see a bunch of emergency vehicles either responding or on scene somewhere and kind of want to know what's going on or what happened," said Jonathan Plessinger, the director of emergency services in Clinton County.
After someone calls 911, the location and details of that call will go to the PulsePoint app. Details for users can include evacuation warnings or messages to stay away from a certain area.
Plessinger said medical calls will not give exact addresses to protect people’s privacy. Many of the app’s current users are first responders, who do get the exact location for every call.
“A lot of people don't carry pagers anymore to be notified of calls," Plessinger said. "They use their smartphones.”
Another critical feature of this app is to notify the community when someone is having a heart attack. A person who has CPR or defibrillator training can sign up for those notifications to let them know someone nearby needs help until first responders arrive.
Plessinger said the chance of survival decreases every minute during a heart attack.
Even if you aren't officially certified, Plessinger said anyone can sign up to respond to heart attack notifications. He said the user can call 911 to ask for directions on how to perform CPR or use a defibrillator.
Plessinger added that another program, Prepared 911, can help in those situations. That program gives emergency dispatchers access to a live camera feed from the smartphone camera of anyone calling 911.
The PulsePoint app costs the county about $8,000 per year. But Plessinger says several area organizations donated that cost.
