Parma, Parma Heights, Brooklyn and Brook Park have rolled out a smartphone app that will alert those trained in CPR to a nearby cardiac emergency.
"If you are within a quarter mile of where someone is having a cardiac emergency it will notify you," said TJ Martin with the Parma Fire Department.
The app is PulsePoint. It is already being used in thousands of cities across the country, including some cities right here in Ohio.
"It has increased survivability ratios in those communities ten-fold, " said Martin.
Now, every time a call for a cardiac emergency comes in to the Parma dispatch center, not only will an ambulance be dispatched, but PulsePoint will also notify people in the area of the emergency.
Tom Wehner and his wife had just finished dancing when he went into cardiac arrest. A stranger started CPR right away, Wehner said, which saved his life.
Wehner was unconscious for seven minutes.
"My doctor said to me that only 15% of people survive what happened to me and only 1% recover the way I did," said Wehner.
That was two years ago, Wehner had bypass surgery. He said he feels like he did 20 years ago and is thankful to the stranger who administered CPR.
Wehner was in the right place at the right time. Now, Parma officials are hoping to give others that same chance with the app.
"It will also notify you where the nearest AED is located," added Martin. It will even walk you through administering CPR, Martin said.
