When a heart ceases to beat and a person’s life hangs in balance, Longmont’s fire department turns to an unlikely source for inspiration to restore its rhythm.
Just as a team of practiced pit crew members use speed, agility and organization to return a race car to the track, firefighters use a similar system that brings order to chaos and seeks to give patients a better chance at surviving. Aptly called the Pit Crew Resuscitation model, the Longmont Fire Department has used the life-saving method for the past five years. The team has been so successful in saving lives that other Boulder County operations have adopted the same model.
John Michael, the Longmont Fire Department’s EMS operation lieutenant, first heard about the model while at an EMS conference in Dallas. A doctor told the audience about a conversation with NASCAR pit crew chief and how it steered him toward a revamped CPR model.