The scene at a recent Phillipston Selectboard meeting might have seemed rather like excited children playing with a new toy, but this was serious business.
The town’s fire chief, Richard Stevens, and Fire Capt. John Seamon Jr. were demonstrating a new high-tech, life-saving device that had just been given to the town.
The pair gave a presentation on the Lucas 3 CPR device donated to the town by the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts.
The foundation gave $14,500 chest compression systems to 14 area fire departments so their firefighters and EMTS could more easily save lives of drowning or heart attack victims. About 735,000 people suffer heart attacks every year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Heart attacks are so prevalent that every year the medical community encourages Americans to learn cardio-pulmonary resuscitation so they can help in an emergency.
And while EMTs like those who ride the Phillipston ambulance are trained in CPR, this new machine will magnify the treatment EMTs can administer in a cardiac emergency. These auto-CPR machines, however can be cost prohibitive for small towns and volunteer forces.
Stevens said the foundation bought a couple of the machines and “had some good saves” which prompted the charity to spend money on more of the life-saving devices.
From a hard-shell case about the size of a backpack, the unit within seconds can be attached to a patient and begin providing continuous chest compressions while an EMT can operate a breath bag every 30 compressions. It has the capacity to deliver 102 compressions per minute and complies with government standards for resuscitation.
“This is great, especially in a small community like ours, where we only have a couple responders on the ambulance,” noted Stevens as he demonstrated the effectiveness of the device.
Batteries provide 90 minutes of power, giving the ambulance ample time to reach the regional trauma center at UMass Medical Center in Worcester if necessary.
Seamon added, “You can pause the machine and it will analyze whether the patient is in normal rhythm or whether cardiac defibrillation is advised.”
The machine is equipped with Bluetooth and WiFi so information can be sent ahead to the hospital. The device can be adjusted to fit small- and large-sized patients.
That’s a lot of high-tech medical care packed in a small package in a rural ambulance — made possible by the generosity of the 18-year-old foundation, which over those years has collected about $50 million in donations and distributed nearly that much to worthy groups like the EMTS of this small North Quabbin town.
The foundation provides education, guidance and resources to strengthen and improve the region’s communities — and with gifts like the CPR machine can take credit for saving lives as well, by making ambulance crews like Phillipston’s better able to do their jobs.