Lynn Fire Dept. device raises survival odds after heart attack

LYNN – A 911 call comes in for a heart attack victim on the top floor of a Lynn triple-decker. Fire Department emergency medical technicians (EMT) begin administering chest compressions on arrival, but the life-saving technique is halted as they descend the narrow stairways. Only on the landings do they pause to resume compressions to ensure the heart continues to pump oxygen-rich blood.Thanks to a breakthrough in medical device technology, such scenes may become a thing of the past.The Fire Department earlier this month acquired its second LUCAS chest compression system, made by Washington-based Physio-Control. The compact, portable machine was designed to perform chest compressions automatically and continually, allowing rescue personnel to turn their attention to the patient’s other needs.”It’s all hands on deck on some of these cardiac-arrest calls. One guy might be giving IV, another taking blood pressure and somebody else getting meds ready,” said District Chief Joseph Zukas, the city’s Emergency Medical Services director. “This machine frees up somebody. It also means the firefighter in the back of the ambulance doesn’t have to be performing CPR en route to the hospital. So instead of being bounced around, he can be belted in. Normally the firefighter would be standing up, performing chest compressions in a moving vehicle.”The $12,000 device purchased with a federal grant will go into service aboard Engine 10, which operates from the Broadway fire station.”This device can be used anywhere in the city, but will be used primarily to respond to medical emergencies in the Ward 1 and Ward 2 areas of Lynn,” said Zukas. “We want to enhance the coverage in those areas, all the way to the Fay Estate.”Statistics have shown that the outcome of most cardiac arrests isn’t positive.”With cardiac arrests, by the time we get the call and get there, the success rate is very low,” said Zukas. “This device greatly increases the chances of survival.”The machine is fitted with what looks like a sink plunger that attaches to the patient’s chest. The plunger is powered by a cylinder of compressed air, the same kind of tank worn by firefighters when entering burning buildings. It can deliver 100 chest compressions per minute.”We have plenty of Scott bottles, so it made sense to buy a device that could be operated off compressed air,” said Zukas, noting that Physio-Control’s next-generation LUCAS 2 system relies on battery power.”We don’t want to be replacing batteries, not when we can use the Scott packs,” Zukas said.The field tests were begun last November when the first LUCAS device was added to the emergency equipment aboard Medic 1, the Fire Department ambulance quartered at the Hollingsworth fire station in the Highlands. Medic 1 covers the entire city.”The machine is invaluable when used in urban settings, especially to medics trying to get patients out of a house or apartment to a waiting ambulance,” the district chief said. “It not only frees up a firefighter. It also improves the quality of chest compressions during CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation).”Zukas emphasized the difficulty of continuing chest compressions while maneuvering a patient through tight spaces or over rough terrains.Studies have shown that effective chest compressions administered in a timely manner can potentially restore circulation to a level sufficient to prevent heart and brain damage, said Zukas, adding that all the department’s 161 firefighters will be trained to use the device.