Spokane County Fire District 8 is getting ready to roll out devices that can perform CPR on patients, reducing the number of firefighters and paramedics needed to treat them.
The district purchased six Lucas 3 machines manufactured by Stryker with a $90,000 grant from Spokane County using CARES Act funding. There will be one device on each engine, one used for training and one to serve as a backup. Crews are training on the devices now, and they should be on the trucks in the first week of March, said Medical Services Officer and paramedic Tom Chavez.
Each device comes in a hard-sided carrying case. A small backboard is slid under the patient and the machine is hooked to the backboard, so the machine and the patient don’t move, Chavez said. This eliminates the need to move the patient to a hard, flat surface before beginning CPR.
“This can be done anywhere,” Chavez said. “We don’t have to move the patient, which we typically have to do.”
The device arches over the patient’s chest and a large suction cup is lowered to the chest. “It automatically comes down and senses where the chest is at,” he said.