05/12/2026
When Joan Lutz, 82, collapsed from cardiac arrest just before midnight onDec. 28, inside her Somerset County home, her husband started CPR.Minutes later, a neighbor she had never met arrived to help — alerted by amobile app.The notification came through PulsePoint, an app that notifies nearby CPR-trained bystanders when someone is in cardiac arrest. In this case, it sentKristin Frieri — a firefighter who lives less than 1 mile away — to the homein Rockwood, where she took over lifesaving efforts already started byDennis Lutz.The incident, now considered Somerset County’s first known PulsePointsave since adopting the system in 2022, highlights how using an automatedexternal defibrillator immediately can increase survival by 75 to 10% perminute, while bystander CPR alone can double or triple survival chances,according to the American Heart Association. Frieri, a captain at the Seven Springs Volunteer Fire Department inChampion, Pa., said she was at home around 11:45 p.m., rocking her 1-yearoldson to sleep, when her phone began to beep.She didn’t recognize the alert at first.“That was actually my first PulsePoint alert,” said Frieri. “I had never seenan alert come through, and honestly, I saw it and got confused because thisis not how we usually get dispatched. Then I realized, no, this is local, thisis a neighbor that needs help.”That local connection made the alert too difficult to ignore. Frieri handedher son to her husband, got in her car and drove about a quarter mile to thehome — a house she had never been to, for a family she had never met.“On the way there, I called a friend who had done CPR recently and said,‘What do I do?’ He said, ‘Just do what you're trained to do.’ That trainingdefinitely does kick in. It was the first time I've ever done CPR — definitelya skill you hope you never have to use.”Craig Hollis-Nicholson, the county’s 911 operations manager, said that thecall had come in as a medical emergency: a woman in her 80s, unconsciousand not breathing after collapsing while walking to the bathroom.Because the PulsePoint app is directly integrated with 911 dispatch,Nicholson said the alert went out automatically as crews were sent. While Dennis Lutz had already begun CPR, guided by phone instructionsfrom Somerset County dispatcher Mark Monteith, Frieri arrived beforeother first responders and began chest compressions.“I went down to the basement and did CPR for four or five minutes untilsome other members of the local fire department showed up, and then theybrought an AED that they were able to get that hooked up on her. By thetime EMS arrived, CPR was no longer necessary and she was able tosurvive.”But it didn’t end there.In March, Frieri, Hollis-Nicholson and other Somerset County 911 staff metLutz, who survived the cardiac arrest. “You don't always get to hear the outcome,” Frieri said. “To go over and seeher, and she was just awesome to talk to — we ended up talking for aboutan hour. She's doing really well.”An estimated 350,000 to 436,000 Americans experience sudden cardiacarrest outside of a hospital each year, and more than 90% of those cases arefatal. Yet only about 40% of people receive bystander CPR beforeemergency responders arrive, per the American Heart Association.Hollis-Nicholson said Somerset County adopted PulsePoint after he saw ademonstration at a conference and later secured a grant from the 1889Foundation. In addition to alerting nearby responders, the app also mapsthe locations of automated external defibrillators.In Allegheny County, PulsePoint has been in use since 2016. More recently— beginning in August 2025 — AEDs were installed in county parksthrough an initiative led by the Aliver Foundation in partnership withcounty officials and emergency responders.Those AED locations, in both Somerset and Allegheny counties, aremapped within the PulsePoint app — allowing bystanders to locatelifesaving equipment in real time.For rural areas like Somerset County, where emergency response times canbe longer, that early intervention can be critical.“This is the first save that we know of in Somerset County,” Hollis-Nicholson said. “We hope more people download the app and start usingit.” Frieri said the experience illustrated how much those first few minutesmatter.“For anyone who's trained in CPR, [PulsePoint] is a huge asset,” she said. “Iwould never have known my neighbor was in distress, and five minutes canreally make a difference before an AED gets on scene.” Both the PulsePoint Respond and PulsePoint AED apps are available foriPhone and Android.Ava Dzurenda ([email protected]) is a science writer andexercise physiologist based in White Oak.First Published: May 10, 2026, 4:00 a.m.
When Joan Lutz, 82, collapsed from cardiac arrest just before midnight on Dec. 28, inside her Somerset County home, her husband started CPR. Minutes later,...
