The Southern Stone County Fire Protection District serves a larger number of elderly and retired citizens in our area, which unfortunately leads to high numbers of cardiac arrest medical calls. Our district took a look at these types of incidents and tried to determine if there was a better way to serve our citizens which we protect as well as reduce fatigue on our members. We were fortunate to be able to demo the Lucas 3 device for a period earlier in the year and witnessed a benefit from having the device as a resource.
The Lucas 3 device provides ideal to near-perfect chest compressions mechanically which increases the survivability of the patient to which it is attached. This device also helps overcome caregiver fatigue, individual variations in CPR quality, and awkward positions while providing chest compressions by using automated, guidelines-consistent CPR.
The device has a backplate that is placed under the patient and the device locks onto the backplate. It is then attached to the backplate with the two arms and turned on. The device is very simple to operate and has minimal setup required.
The district purchased three Lucas 3 devices which have been in service since December 16, 2021. Since having these devices in operation in our district they have been used many times with success, as well as assisting with transporting patients to the hospital either by ground ambulance or aircraft. We thank the people who live, work and play here in our beautiful area for their continued support. We also thank the Board of Directors and our Responders who make our fire district something we can all be proud of!
FFAM
