Con Fire Deploys Lifesaving Automated CPR Devices
In early 2020, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District deployed 30 new LUCAS Chest Compression Systems designed to provide consistent, high quality and uninterrupted chest compressions to cardiac event victims at incident scenes and while being transported to hospitals.
Part of a Con Fire initiative to improve survivability of cardiac events across the County, every operational fire engine and truck in the District is now equipped with a LUCAS device, available whenever and wherever they might be needed.
LUCAS devices are expected to improve patient outcomes by automatically delivering hands-free chest compressions, freeing first responders to perform other critical advanced life support tasks during these incidents.
The devices are a benefit of the District’s ambulance transport Alliance, a unique public-private system of dispatchers, firefighter paramedics, emergency medical service providers and ambulance transport that strives to get to patients with potentially life threatening illnesses and injuries faster and transport them to hospital more quickly, affording them the best possible chance for a positive outcome.
The LUCAS 3 is a portable, easy-to-use device that delivers automated, medical guidelines compliant chest compressions to improve blood flow in victims of cardiac arrest. The LUCAS device is lightweight, comes in a backpack and can be applied quickly to a patient, interrupting manual compressions for less than 20 seconds. It’s simple to apply whether the patient is on the ground, on a bed, or on a stretcher in the ambulance.