The basic process of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) hasn’t changed much since it was first introduced in the 1960s. Now, a new device may change that.
Lt. Russell Duerr of the Lebanon Fire District has nothing but good things to say about the men and women of his crew, but they’re only human. Literally.
“These CPR devices are a mechanical device that takes the place of human CPR,” he told KEZI. Where humans must, by current Red Cross guidelines, trade off in two-minute shifts to avoid becoming fatigued, and risk losing circulation time while switching from one person to the next or while finding the right spot to make compressions.
According to a YouTube video about this new mechanical CPR device, “[i]t can do manual CPR for up to an hour with no interruptions, so it takes out all the human error.”
Once the compression pad is placed over the subject’s breastbone, there is no risk of it slipping downward to break off the xiphoid process, which may then easily pierce the heart.
“These have been on our radar for a couple of years,” Duerr said. “[W]e’ve been wanting to get them for our community, and we were able to afford them this last budget year,” getting the $10,000 cost for each device added to the Department’s budget. Duerr considered the battery-powered electric Lifeline Arm a great improvement over earlier devices he had worked with in the past, which had run on compressed air.
By John M. Burt
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