Valdosta medical center will soon have Lucas CPR devices on its ambulances

VALDOSTA, Ga. (WALB) - Could new South Georgia emergency medical technology save lives? Nearly 500,000 Americans die from cardiac arrest a year, according to the American Heart Association’s most recent tracking.

South Georgia Medical Center (SGMC) recently announced they will have the Lucas CPR devices on all of their EMS trucks soon. SGMC says not only will this device provide better care to their patients, but it will also help with burnout.

“The benefit of having this device is this is an automated device. So, the patient is getting a set amount of depth and a set amount of compressions to really make sure that your patients receiving high-quality CPR,” SGMC’s Emergency Departments and Urgent Cares Assistant Medical Director, Elizabeth Flail said. “Also, when you’re running trucks and you’re able to put this device on — then you have a paramedic who can handle airways and meds. It’s just beneficial for the patient overall.”

Fire personnel are trained with emergency medical services to learn the Lucas CPR device — since they work hand and hand whenever a patient is suffering from cardiac arrest.

“Currently, you have firefighters or medics standing up in the back of the truck doing chest compressions— while they’re doing intubations and pushing medications for patient treatment.” Valdosta Fire Chief Brian Boutwell said. “The Lucas Device is going to allow us to focus on other parts of the patient’s treatment. It’s going to be safer for the patient as well as the medics and firefighters.”

Clinical evidence from Lucas Chest Compression Systems shows that 15 percent of sudden cardiac arrest patients who did not respond to normal measures could be saved with the Lucas Device.

“Anytime that you can supply the paramedics with additional resources to be able to give life-saving measures to the community, this allows them to feel like one more task is delegated, and they can handle the patient’s care,” Flail said.

Research shows that the Lucas Device is studied more than than any other mechanical CPR device and has over 200 publications.

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