The Fond Du Lac Fire Department is adding a new tool to their arsenal that could help EMT’s save more lives. The fire department plans on incorporating five new devices into ambulances that could help administer CPR on the go. NBC26 has more on how the CPR machine works and what kind of difference it could make.
It's called the Lucas Chest Compression system and basically it's a hands free approach to CPR, minus the breaths that can be given. And according to EMT's it can make a big difference when trying to save someone who isn't breathing.
It could be a life saver, for sudden cardiac arrest patients.
"A solid, consistent, rapid method of chest compressions," says Todd Vanquart the Assistant Chief of EMS at the Fond Du Lac Fire Department.
100 compressions a minute can be administered with the device. A task that EMT's admit is difficult to sustain for a lengthy duration of time.
"Before, usually you rotate through personnel pretty quickly when you’re doing chest compressions," say Lt. Curt Smits of the Fond Du Lac Fire Department.
"The human body is only able to do so much, for so long, before you start to see a decrease in efficiency of those chest compressions," adds Vanquart.
The device is said to have brought a woman who was clinically dead for 42 minutes back to life in Australia. Which is just one testament to the value of the machine.
"Performing just good quality CPR," says Smits.
The thing is the device never gets tired and it can work efficiently even in the back of a moving vehicle. Add those two valuable features up and it can really free up precious time for EMT’s who are racing to save lives.
"While the paramedics are doing other air way skills, IV skills, drawing up medications," adds Smits.
And while the Lucas won't be replacing any jobs in Fond Du Lac, it's hoped that it will make the job easier. And in due time it could possibly even turn out a higher success rate for patients across the region.
The cost for the five devices for the department was 65-thousand dollars. Fond Du Lac Fire plans on putting them in ambulances for use as soon as Thursday morning.
