Rogers-Lowell Area News

City of Rogers Fire Department Awarded 2018 AR Digital Government Transformation Award

The City of Rogers Fire Department has been honored as a Winner in the Information Network of Arkansas’s (INA) 2018 Arkansas Digital Government Transformation Awards (ADGTA). The City of Rogers won the Citizen Service Award with its PulsePoint App nomination. The ADGTA awards program recognizes government offices that have used technology to provide better service and reduce costs to taxpayers. The Citizen Service Award “recognizes government offices that have used technology to provide improved service to citizens.”

PulsePoint is an innovative, location-driven iPhone and Android App which allows Rogers citizens to provide life-saving assistance to victims of Sudden Cardiac Arrest. Made possible by a collaborative effort between the Rogers Fire and Police Departments, App subscribers that have indicated they are trained in CPR are alerted if someone nearby is having a cardiac emergency and may require CPR.

If the cardiac emergency is in a public place, the App will notify nearby community members of the need for CPR. The App also directs the “community responder” to the exact location of the closest public access Automated External Defibrillator. The community responder administers CPR or uses the AED until paramedics arrive. Additionally, there are plans to upgrade PulsePoint to allow off-duty EMTs to respond to cardiac emergencies in nearby private residences.

The City of Rogers has worked feverishly over the past five years to improve its cardiac arrest survivability. Today, the city boasts a cardiac arrest survival rate of over 40% (the national average is around 9% according to the American Heart Association).

Moreover, PulsePoint increases transparency. It logs all of the current and recent calls the Fire Department has responded to and offers a map of those same calls. The App also allows its users to turn on a Public Safety Radio Scanner.

While Rogers averages a total response time of 6 minutes and 30 seconds (from call pick up by 911 to arrival at scene), Sudden Cardiac Arrest can become fatal in only 8 minutes. Because of a lack of oxygen-rich blood to the brain, there is little chance of resuscitation after just 10 minutes. As such, CPR is a genuinely life-saving intervention; however, only a third of SCA victims receiver bystander CPR even though 57% of adults in the US have undergone CPR training. The American Heart Association estimates that effective bystander CPR, provided immediately after sudden cardiac arrest, can double or triple a person’s chance of survival. (Source: PulsePoint)

The City’s investment in a subscription to PulsePoint allows citizens to respond quickly to administer CPR in the vital minutes before our paramedics arrive.

Moreover, increased transparency increases support for the important work that our emergency responders do. Citizens are typically blown away by the number of calls our Fire Department responds to in a day. The map interface showing all of the calls speaks a thousand words about the incredibly important and demanding work our Fire Department does. Impressing the amount of emergency-service demand on citizens increases their support for new investments in our city.

As of June 2018, there are 2,647 followers on PulsePoint of which 1,463 have CPR alerts enabled. Meaning, 2,647 citizens (4% of our population) have downloaded the App and chosen to follow the Rogers Fire Department. Additionally, 1,463 of followers also have enabled CPR alerts. In other words, over 1,400 Rogers citizens have volunteered to be ‘community responders,’ are ready to administer CPR in public areas, and will spring into action at the simple notification of an emergency. 

The ADGTA judges included members of the INA Board, the Secretary of State, the Chief Technology Officer, the Department of Information Systems director, the Chief Transformation Officer, and Governor Asa Hutchinson. These judges reviewed more than 50 nominations and chose the winners and finalists in each category, and presented them at an award ceremony on Sept. 14 in Little Rock.

For additional information and media on PulsePoint, see the following links:
Watch Chief Jenkins describe using mobile technologies to increase public safety here.
Watch Chief Jenkins in a 2017 video describe PulsePoint.
Read a white-paper on the research supporting the need for PulsePoint.
 
Download the PulsePoint App for iPhone here and for Android here.

“It’s clear our cities and counties are finding ways to make government work better and more efficiently,” Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said. “It’s easy to talk about transformation, but transformation is hard work. The work these public servants are doing helps the people in our communities, and I am confident the cost savings and improvements represented by these award-winning initiatives will continue to inspire leaders from around the state.”

The goal of these awards is to shine a spotlight on transformative technology that is truly reinventing Arkansas government and the pioneering public servants who are driving it forward. For more information about the awards and a list of 2018 winners,visit https://ina.arkansas.gov/adgta.