Cataldo Ambulance Service donates 4 defibrillators to Saugus Fire Department

SAUGUS-When the American Heart Association changed its protocol for defibrillators, it left the Fire Department with eight units that were suddenly out of date.Fire Chief James Blanchard said he sent his defibrillators out to be rehabbed to fit the new guidelines, mainly because he had no money in his budget for new ones.”But whenever you make changes that are that significant, you really want new machines that will actually do what’s required,” he said.The new protocol requires the defibrillators to deliver one shock rather than several, which is what the current machines are designed to do.Blanchard said past protocol allowed for a patient to be shocked as many as five or six times, which he admitted his guys would do on occasion. After researching the issue, the American Heart Association now reports that patients should receive CPR, be shocked once and have CPR continued.Because the department’s defibrillators are on the older side anyway, Blanchard said he asked Cataldo Ambulance Service for help and they came to the rescue, buying the department four brand new defibrillators at a cost of nearly $5,000.”We use these all the time,” Blanchard said. “It’s really a win on two fronts.”Blanchard’s old defibrillators didn’t match the ones that Cataldo uses but the new ones will and that will save critical time in terms of patient care.Specifically, the Fire Department’s defibrillator pads didn’t match those used by Cataldo, which meant Cataldo often spent valuable time removing Fire Department pads and attaching their own before they could take over patient care.”Now we can just leave our pads on,” Blanchard said. “It saves time. It’s a real win for us.”Blanchard said some of the old machines will be traded in as part of the deal to receive new defibrillators but at least one will be wall mounted in the dispatch center on the Police Department side of the Public Safety building.Blanchard said firefighters have twice responded to the police side with a defibrillator and shocked someone back to life. The most recent patient was Sgt. John Coburn who suffered a heart attack while booking a suspect.”The problem is we’re not always in the building,” Blanchard said. “Now they’ll have a defibrillator if anything else happens.”Due to the amount of the gift, Selectmen had to vote to accept it, which they did but not without a disclosure.Selectman Stephen Horlick reminded the board the last time it accepted a gift from Cataldo was in 2004 and the board needed to file a disclosure.Cataldo is the town’s dedicated ambulance service and has a garage in town. Horlick said because the board might have to vote on a permit or a related issue, it should file a disclosure this time as well.Selectman Michael Kelleher suggested a disclosure be filed stating that the board could accept the gift without fear that it couldn’t act accordingly in the future.”I expect to take delivery on the defibrillators in March,” Blanchard said.”But I do still need four more,” he added with a laugh. “If there’s anyone else out there that wants to pick one up for us we’ll take it.”