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Porter County approves $40,000 plan for two AED stations and PulsePoint integration, commissioners commit $20,000
Summary
The Board approved buying two 24/7 AED stations (Expo Center and Sunset Hill Park) and integrating the PulsePoint responder app with county 911, with commissioners contributing $20,000 toward the project; commissioners also questioned use of opioid-settlement funds by county council for permanent positions.
Porter County commissioners on March 10 approved the purchase and deployment of two 24/7 automated external defibrillator (AED) stations and funding to integrate the PulsePoint responder app with county 911 systems.
A county health department representative told the board that the Heart Safe Porter County initiative has installed 14 community-accessible AEDs, supplied 25 AEDs for first responders and enrolled the county in the CARES registry. The presenter said the PulsePoint integration will notify credentialed bystanders within proximity to a cardiac arrest and provide integrated AED location data to dispatchers and responders.
"Our goal is to build strong partnerships among residents, first responders, health care providers, businesses, and community organizations to increase hands-only CPR, expand AED accessibility across the county, and raise awareness," the health department representative said.
Commissioners discussed funding sources for the project. Commissioner Bixs said the county will contribute $20,000 from the commissioners' budget and noted concern that other funds referenced in the agenda packet had been drawn from the county opioid-settlement account; he said the board had expected those settlement funds to be spent according to a prior resolution and was "very disappointed" that some settlement dollars appeared to have been reallocated to permanent staff positions by the county council without explanation. That allegation was raised on the floor by Commissioner Bixs during debate; no county-council representative responded at the meeting.
After discussion, a motion to approve purchase of the two AED stations (Sunset Hill Park and the Expo Center) and the software necessary to integrate PulsePoint with the county 911 center carried. The board recorded that commissioners will contribute $20,000 toward the $40,000 effort.
The motion directs county staff to proceed with procurement and with integrating PulsePoint with E-911 systems; further implementation details and any additional funding sources were not finalized at the meeting.
The board's vote followed the health presentation; officials said they will provide locations and logistical details to the commissioners as deployment proceeds.
