When a person undergoes cardiac arrest, maintaining circulation is a matter of life and death. Applying continuous Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation manually – even during transit – however, has been difficult. But with the recent addition of five Lund University Cardiopulmonary Assist System devices, also known as “LUCAS”, that difficulty has been overcome with direct results.
Assistant Fire Chief Michael Lubbert in a Friday news release said that the new CPR devices are like adding an additional person to the scene whose only job is to perform chest compression when CPR is required.
The devices were acquired thanks to a FEMA “Assistance to Firefighters” grant of $87,045, an amount that was matched by vote of the Sheboygan Common Council, making it possible to add one LUCAS device to each of the department’s front-line apparatus.
Lubbert said in the announcement that since the devices were added one week ago – Friday, May 5th – they have been deployed three times on patients in cardiac arrest, with some of the patients having a return of spontaneous circulation, and who were later released walking out of the hospital.
The SFD thanked the members of the Common Council and FEMA for making the purchase of the lifesaving devices possible.
Fire Department Personnel Work With the Recently-Acquired LUCAS CPR Assist Device. Photo courtesy of the SFD
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