News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Last month, Waldo Vasquez responded to a Pulse Point notification and saved a Texas man in cardiac arrest.
Vasquez, a Putnam County Fire Department volunteer firefighter, said he received a Pulse Point notification in the parking lot of the Cookeville Walmart.
“As I was walking in, my phone started making a noise. I checked my phone. It was a notification from PulsePoint,” Vasquez said. “It was saying CPR needed in your area. I clicked on it and it was showing the location in Wal Mart which was in the pharmacy area.”
A Texas man, traveling with his wife, had collapsed at the Walmart Pharmacy. Vaquez said he located the man using the Pulse Point app.
“As I reached down I said, ‘Sir can you hear me?'” Vasquez said. “I noticed that his pulse was starting to fade away. So I just immediately started CPR.”
Putnam County EMS and Cookeville Fire Department paramedics cared for the Texas man on the scene. The man regained a pulse after being shocked by the ambulance defibrillator.
The Texas man suffered a heartache and was treated with two stints to correct the blockages.
Putnam County 911, the Cookeville Regional Charitable Foundation, Tennessee Heart, and the Mended Hearts Cookeville Chapter purchased the PulsePoint app.
The app notifies CPR-trained citizens of a possible CPR event nearby.
Vasquez said he never thought he would use the app while shopping.
PulsePoint was launched in Putnam County in February.
To learn more about PulsePoint, visit www.putnamcountytn.gov and click on 911 Center for more information.
