Holiday Park VFD this past week debuted a new emergency medical tool for our QRS to aid our EMS personnel responding to a Cardiac Arrest. The LUCAS Device by Stryker, is a automated mechanical device that delivers consistent chest compressions on a patient during CPR.
It will aid our EMS personnel by taking over compression duties once the crews have done high quality compressions manually before-hand. It reduces rescuer fatigue & ensures the patient gets the best compressions to keep the heart pumping while waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
Normally this device is carried on Advanced Life Support Ambulances but our department has seen the value of having it available for when there are delays with ambulances coming from outside of Plum Borough during high volume times; and so we made the financial investment & training commitment to implement it.
Thank you to Allegheny Health Network – Prehospital Care Services team, in particular Jeff Wess, from Forbes Hospital for helping us with getting our unit medically certified, inspected, and train our EMS personnel on it.
