Lynn Fire receives region’s most advanced mobile heart monitor

LYNN – Fire Department paramedics got their first look Tuesday at the region’s most-advanced mobile heart monitor and defibrillator, a 21st-century emergency medicine device that will be stored aboard the Medic 1 ambulance.Capt. Joseph Zukas, the Lynn department’s director of Emergency Medical Services, said the combined device is capable of delivering a defibrillator shock customized to the patient’s age and other factors. The equipment can monitor the patient’s heart and level of oxygen saturation in the bloodstream.According to Zukas, the LifePak 15 monitor/defibrillator manufactured by Physio-Control, a division of Medtronics, has four innovative diagnostic tools to measure respiratory function, including carbon monoxide.”Physio-Control is the Microsoft of the heat monitoring industry. This monitor costs $25,000 but through an assistance-to-firefighters grant we were able to get a $16,000 federal grant to help pay for it,” said Zukas. “The model we had was 8-10 years old, so it was like trading in an older car for a new model. Now we have the most advanced cardiac monitor in this part of the state.”Zukas explained that the new model can adjust the strength of the electrical charge delivered to the patient because the paramedic inputs data such as the age of the victim. “The monitor can check the heart pressure or rate. We still encourage the paramedics to use their blood-pressure cuffs, just to stay in practice, but this machine can perform lots of different things automatically. It allows us to bring more advanced technology out into the field and into the patient’s living room. It’s changing the way we deliver emergency medicine.”The LifePak 15 can quickly and inexpensively identify carbon monoxide poisoning and methemoglobinemia, the latter an abnormal form of hemoglobin that can be caused by prescription drugs.With the introduction of 3G cell phone technology, the Fire Department will someday soon have the capability of transmitting the information from the monitor and defibrillator director to the hospital emergency room. Doctors can assess the conditions and make preparations before the patient arrives.