SUNDRE – During a demonstration of the Sundre Fire Department’s recently acquired Lund University Cardiopulmonary Assist System (LUCAS) device, the municipal council heard that the automated chest compressor unit is “effectively a fourth person in the truck.”
Five members of the fire department including chief Ross Clews attended the regular Feb. 21 meeting, which in mayor Richard Warnock’s excused absence was chaired by deputy mayor Chris Vardas.
Addressing council to provide a brief background prior to the demonstration, Clews said the unit was received in January and added that members shortly thereafter completed operational training with Feb. 8 marking the new device’s in-service date.
“This machine has some amazing capabilities,” said Clews.
“If anyone wants to have a heart attack right now, it would be the perfect time,” he said in jest, eliciting some laughter before yielding the floor to his crew to begin the demonstration that involved the use of a dummy torso.
Leading the demonstration, Todd Marshall – who was joined by colleagues Sam Zhao, Callie Klettl and Steven Ingram-Mitchell – described the device as small, mobile, and “very, very handy” as well as “amazingly simple but yet incredibly capable.”
“This is effectively a fourth person in the truck,” said Marshall.
Comprised of two primary components – the unit itself and a backboard – the machine comes with a battery pack that has enough power to continue chest compressions for 45 minutes, he said, adding the department obtained two packs.
“So, we’re set up for quite a duration of CPR,” he said, adding there’s even a power cord option to plug into a wall to run the machine indefinitely.
“There’s only a couple of buttons that you have to memorize or utilize in order to get the system functional,” he said, adding the unit works on a variety of patient sizes.
“It’s very quick to install, and that’s one of the benefits of the system itself,” he said.
After the unit is powered up, the device conducts a quick pre-check before a member places the machine in position over the patient and once satisfied the chest compressor is well placed, proceeds to activate it at the push of a button. However, although very versatile and adaptable to a range of different body sizes, the machine will not work on patients who are too small, he said.
“If the unit is installed on a patient too small for it to be safe to utilize, it won’t actually function at all,” he said.
After 30 compressions, the machine prompts the operator by way of a beeping tone to begin using a bag valve mask before the automatic compressions resume for another round, he said.
Some of the machine’s features could not be fully demonstrated as the dummy had no arms, but Marshall pointed out wrist straps that can be used to keep a patient stable during transport or to control a scene.
“You can anchor those hands in place,” he said, adding a neck strap also helps brace a patient to immobilize them while the unit continues conducting compressions as responders move the patient for example onto a stretcher or an ambulance.
“And it can actually be used while they’re sitting in a chair,” he added.
If for whatever reason a patient begins to move too much and displaces the unit’s position, responders can easily and quickly pause the machine and readjust the system before resuming CPR, he said.
The device can even fit on the fire department’s largest, most broad-shouldered member. However, it won’t work in the case of pediatric patients who are much more susceptible to the risk of suffering permanent damage, he said.
Following the demonstration, Coun. Jaime Marr asked if the first responders to arrive at a scene still start with manual CPR prior to switching over to the machine, and if the device will function on a youth provided they’re “thick enough,” to which Marshall confirmed on both counts.
Coun. Paul Isaac said he liked what he saw and asked whether the machine would work on a patient with a pacemaker, such as himself.
“One of the things I’m told with a pacemaker, any kind of motor or rhythm can make it stop. So, I don’t know if that would have an interference,” said Isaac. “If a person is somewhat unconscious, and you’ve got to find out all those variables, just curious how you would go about doing that, and what would you do different, if anything.”
Clews said the pacemaker would first of all have to fail before responders would start using the device.
“You don’t even do manual CPR on a person with a pulse,” the chief said, adding responders will in the instance a patient has a pulse but is not breathing then proceed to use a bag valve mask.
“If their pulse stops, then we’ll start manual CPR and hook this up,” he said.
Seeking further clarification, Isaac said he’d been told that if he’s for example running a chainsaw or boosting a vehicle, that the rhythm runs the risk of interfering with the pacemaker by tricking it into thinking the heart’s working.
Marshall said that if a patient’s pacemaker is attempting to pump the heart but is not working, that the LUCAS device will not cause any problems.
The main concern in such a scenario involving a pacemaker, he added, would be the use of an AED – automated external defibrillator – and the potentially negative effects a shock could have.
Vardas commented to say the device does not look very wide and asked how the unit would work “on overly large people.”
Marshall reiterated that the device fit on the department’s largest members, and added that in extreme but rare situations when a patient is too large for the machine, that responders would then revert to conducting manual compressions.
But it all depends on what is impeding the device’s installation.
“If it’s structural, you’re not going to be able to do anything about it,” he said. “If it’s simply flesh, you might be able to get it out of the way to lock the system in place.”
Council accepted the presentation as information.
