SANDPOINT — The average response time for paramedics in the United States is seven minutes.

This timeframe could be even longer depending on where the person is at, which is why it is important for people everywhere to have basic training in CPR.

“Citizens starting CPR for cardiac arrest victims prior to the arrival of our EMS providers can make all the difference between life or death for a loved one,” said Dr. Ronald Jenkins, medical director for Bonner County EMS.

As such, the BCEMS crew will be offering brief CPR training on both Sundays of the Festival, Aug. 4 and 11, at War Memorial Field. They will ask three to four people at a time to take 10 minutes while waiting in line to learn about the life-saving techniques, using American Heart Association guidelines.

“We will save your spot in line and teach you some quick, hands-only CPR,” Jenkins said.

This is the first time BCEMS has done a community-based CPR program as they make a “major push” toward improving the number of people in Bonner County who are CPR trained, Jenkins said.

The goal is to get the county set up on PulsePoint, a smartphone app that matches people trained in CPR and the use of AEDs — automated external defibrillators — to victims of sudden cardiac arrest. The PulsePoint dispatch center immediately alerts CPR-trained individuals about nearby cardiac arrest events, and also lets them know the location of the closest AEDs.

It is similar to an Amber alert, Jenkins said, where people get a notification that something is wrong and the location.

If someone suffers from sudden cardiac arrest and no one is there to treat them, he said, chances of survival go way down. However, if someone close by can start CPR until the paramedics arrive, their chance of survival increases substantially, Jenkins said.

“So we want more and more people who know how to do that,” he said.

One example where the app helped save a life, he said, was during a Shania Twain concert in Spokane. It went out on PulsePoint and firefighters nearby, who otherwise would not have known what was happening, saw the alert and started CPR right away. Because of the immediate response, the person survived.

It is because of such stories that there is a push to not only get people in the community trained, but also to let them know the county will be moving toward the PulsePoint application, Jenkins said.

The idea to implement the community-based program and PulsePoint was born through discussions of the Bonner County Coalition for Health, Jenkins said. The coalition is made up of about 100 community members from medical fields, including BCEMS, as well as city officials and others interested in improving the overall health of the community.

The BCEMS crew will set up at the Festival each Sunday about two hours before the gates open. They will have CPR manikins that light up to indicate when the technique is being done correctly. Jenkins said they will likely have child and baby manikins, in addition to the adult one, to demonstrate the difference in techniques. The sessions will last about 10 minutes and then each person will get a sticker and their place back in line.

Jenkins said they hope to train around 100 people at the Festival, and also aim to continue the community-based training efforts with more programs in the near future.

“Please give us a few minutes of your time and learn how to save a life,” Jenkins said.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.