The Latest Tool for Regional EMS Responders: Automatic CPR Devices

Performing CPR involves pressing down on the chest of someone in cardiac arrest 100 to 120 times per minute.

It can be exhausting, as well as unnerving.

That explains why some local Emergency Medical Services agencies have automatic CPR devices that perform chest compressions.

"The main thing about it is it's consistent, and it doesn't get tired," said Tom Barsi, education manager for Orchard Park Fire District EMS.

It also helps calm a chaotic scene, frees up EMS personnel to undertake other treatments on the patient, and is safer for paramedics in the ambulance, since they don't have to stand over a patient to perform Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and can be belted in a seat during transport.

The portable LUCAS 3 device has a plate that is placed under the patient's back with the compression unit above the chest.

"If somebody is doing manual CPR and they're pushing on someone's chest with their hands, they can do it for a period of time," Barsi said. "You need to perform 100-120 compressions a minute. You can do it for a little bit, but you get tired."

The device also is helpful when moving a patient from a house to an ambulance, which could involve going around corners and down stairs.

"There were periods of time you just had to stop," Barsi said.

More than 435,000 Americans die from a cardiac arrest, which globally claims more lives than colorectal, breast, and prostate cancer, influenza, pneumonia, auto accidents, HIV, firearms, and house fires combined, according to the American Heart Association.

Nearly 90% of American deaths occur in the home, the association reports, and up to 200,000 lives of adults and children could be saved each year if CPR were performed early enough.

A Norwegian paramedic approached a professor at Lund University Hospital in Sweden in the 1990s with the idea of an automatic chest compression machine. LUCAS stands for Lund University Cardiac Assist System.

The first devices were used in ambulances in Sweden in 2003. More than 50,000 of them are in use around the world, according to the distributor, Stryker.

Orchard Park Fire District EMS acquired the LUCAS 3 device on loan in a pilot program from the Erie County Health Department, so the county could get a sense of how it works in the field. The health department also provided the Erie County sheriff's medical response unit with one, health department spokeswoman Kara Kane said.

The county plans to start its own ambulance service later this year, and the devices would be part of the program.

"We do plan to purchase more to add to our ambulance and first response units," Kane said in an email.

Barsi said the first mechanical CPR devices had challenges with power and batteries that didn't last long without charging, but now that technology has improved the battery life, more first responders have found them useful.

"It's very helpful when we have low manpower," said Lake View Fire District member Chris Richardson, when he demonstrated the device during an open house in April. "It is a really huge asset to have, and since we've been using it, it's been quite successful."

One of the main drawbacks is the cost, which can run from $16,000 to $20,000 apiece.

Responders must be trained on the device, which is not as user-friendly as an automatic external defibrillator (AED). It is not a replacement for all manual CPR, either.

Barsi said that's why it's important for those on the scene where someone goes into cardiac arrest to perform CPR before paramedics arrive.

"The goal is that every time we show up for someone in cardiac arrest that somebody's doing at least chest compressions on them," he said.

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