Winnipeg cuts ties with CPR response app

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This article was published 10/08/2023 (836 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Winnipeg has ended its use of an app that alerted emergency response-trained residents when someone nearby suffered a reported heart attack.

The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service discontinued its participation in PulsePoint this week, which provided real-time information on emergencies with a goal to increase bystander CPR response rates and shorten the time to locate defibrillators in public places. (Such devices use an electric charge or current to restore a normal heartbeat.)

WFPS has shared information through the app since 2019 — but the service says it did not record any instances where a CPR alert was deemed a factor in saving a life. WFPS Chief Christian Schmidt linked the results to relatively low local participation.

“On average, we have about 8,000 users per month that monitor the application. And, unfortunately, on average, only about 1,600 of those individuals had the CPR alert notification active on the application. That’s 1,600 in a city of over 800,000 people (in the census metropolitan area). That, coupled with the fact that we’re not able to participate in (a related) research study, those were really the key points that resulted in the decision,” Schmidt said Thursday.

The WFPS chief said issues with data-sharing and privacy agreements led the city to opt out of research linked to the app, after the city repeatedly asked for details about the process that were not provided.

Schmidt declined to specify what those details were.

The app cost the City of Winnipeg about $13,000 per year to participate in, so there was also a financial component to the decision, he added.

In 2016, the city pitched the app as a potential way to improve outcomes for some emergency patients. Those who downloaded it would receive a notification if they were close to a cardiac arrest event in a public place. The location of any nearby automated external defibrillators was also noted.

“This notification results in connecting patients in need of CPR with bystanders who are trained and ready to help save lives from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA),” a WFPS document noted at the time.

PulsePoint alerts came with a map that displayed the general area of an emergency, such as a street name. A detailed location was shared only with those who signed up for CPR alerts and were located within 500 metres of a public place where a cardiac incident was taking place, according to WFPS.

While the city has switched to posting most of the incident response information online and updating it every five minutes, such maps will no longer be included. Instead, details about an emergency event will include the type of incident, call time, units responding, neighbourhood and council ward.

Schmidt said less information about exact locations will be available because the city wants to share information without intruding on a patient’s privacy.

“We want to be very transparent in the information we’re sharing, and share as much information as possible while still protecting people’s right to privacy for their personal health information and, also, the security of their property. We have to be very cautious.”

He said the app shared more specific location details on a limited basis with the goal of helping patients.

While PulsePoint will also no longer be an option to locate defibrillators, Schmidt said 911 operators can share the locations of those devices with emergency callers, and/or step-by-step instructions on how to perform CPR, as needed.

The city ended its use of the app Tuesday, and began posting incident information online at www.winnipeg.ca/FPSIncidentResponse the same day.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga