Mountain View County and the Town of Olds have jointly bought a machine for the fire department to automatically provide CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) on patients.
CPR is an emergency procedure in which a rescuer alternately pushes up and down on a patient's chest and presses his or her mouth against the victim's and blows air into their lungs. The goal is to keep that person alive until they can get to a hospital. It's often done for a person who is in cardiac arrest.
The name of the $15,000 machine is a physio control Lucas 3.1 automated CPR device. It is designed for rugged use and can operate off a single battery charge for approximately 40 minutes.
Proponents say the sooner and more effectively CPR can be provided, the better the chances are that a patient will survive.
CPR takes a lot out of those doing it.
"To conduct CPR on a patient for prolonged periods of time is a physical demand on many responders," a town news release says.
Fire Chief Justin Andrew agrees. He presented the purchase to Olds and Mountain View County officials.
“It has been clearly documented that someone doing CPR begins to lose effect due to fatigue within minutes of starting, and requires change-out frequently," Andrew says. "This device does not get tired, slow down, or compress less effectively as time goes on.”
"When you bring a device like this in and it looks after that job completely for you, so many other hands are freed up to do the other things that are necessary," he said during an interview with the Albertan.
Andrew says no one will lose a job as a result of this machine.
"This is just providing a very essential piece of treatment in cardiac arrest situations and it allows the trained practitioners to focus their skills on the other components that are absolutely necessary to see positive outcomes," he says.
Currently, EMS (ambulance personnel) are not required to carry the machine. As a result, it was purchased for the fire department.
"The fire department is auto dispatched to any cardiac arrest call within its jurisdiction to assist already, so the device will come along and be readily available, regardless of where the responding EMS unit is dispatched from," the news release says.
Andrew has 20 years of EMS experience and encountered the machine during his 16-year career with the Red Deer emergency services department.
He was impressed with what the machine can do.
"It was a substantial increase in just effectiveness in cardiac arrest situations," he says.
“Anything that can be done to increase the chances of survival is a very worthwhile investment," Andrew says. "For the municipalities to make this investment is a strong statement for their dedication to provide exceptional service to the citizens.
“I truly believe that this device along with the health-care chain of survival will be responsible for saving someone’s life in the future. It isn’t a matter of if (it will be used) it is a matter of when,” he adds.
The machine is already in use at the Olds Fire Department and Andrew says all Olds firefighters have been trained to use it.
"We have used it once already and yeah, it's making an impact on how we provide service and essentially providing the citizens that it's intended for a higher level of care than what they had previously," he says.
