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County Emergency Officials Ask Businesses to Register Defibrillators with Life-Saving App

With more than 100 known public defibrillators spread across Manatee County, Fla., emergency management officials are asking business owners to register their own.

(TNS) — With more than 100 known public defibrillators spread across Manatee County, Fla., emergency management officials are asking business owners to register their own.

PulsePoint, an app that was announced by emergency management officials this month, notifies app users of someone who is having a sudden cardiac arrest within a quarter-mile radius after 911 is called, so that CPR can be administered as help arrives. The app also teaches registrants how to perform CPR, how to use an automated external defibrillator, or AED, and where the nearest public AED is.

About 300 people have downloaded the app, and officials have determined the locations of 120 AEDs. Manatee County 911 Chief Jake Saur believes there could be as many as 500.

Private businesses that have defibrillators are able to register theirs for PulsePoint by using the app or visiting www.mymanatee.org/pulsepoint. Businesses that register their AEDs will also get notifications if their defibrillator needs new batteries or it's needed for a nearby sudden cardiac arrest.

Sudden cardiac arrest differs from a heart attack because an arrhythmia stops the heart from pumping blood throughout the body, according to the Mayo Clinic. A heart attack is when blood is blocked from flowing to the heart.

"PulsePoint becomes an even more powerful lifesaving tool the more we know where AEDs are located, so that Good Samaritans can begin CPR while others retrieve an AED to assist before paramedics arrive," Saur said in a press release.

Hannah Morse: 941-745-7055, @mannahhorse

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