Hoke County's new automated CPR device can help save lives

A new automated CPR machine is coming to Hoke County that could just save your life one day.

The LUCAS Chest Compression System is an automated device designed to apply consistent chest compressions to a patient that has gone into cardiac arrest. While a trained EMT would normally provide CPR, this new device frees up the hands of the technician, providing the patient with continuous compressions that improve survivability.

The portable device can be applied to a patient in less than 20 seconds.

Funded by a $17,000 grant, the device has already proven itself in trials in Hoke County and should be fully up and running by the end of September 2018.

"It increases survivability," said Sabrina Brooks, executive director of the Cape Fear Valley Health Foundation. "Their goal from the EMT perspective is to get the patients the level of care they need. What we want to do is continue to enhance the health care being provided in the community. This equipment enables the EMTs to continue providing CPR when they don’t have as many humans on the ground [who are] able to provide it."

"From our numbers on the trial, all of our patients except for one had returned to spontaneous respiration," said Robert Godwin, Hoke County EMS director for Cape Fear Valley. "They got a pulse back. We know that it works, we know it's successful in that category."

The automated CPR machine is a great tool to help improve the health resources of Hoke County residents. The rural nature of the county means that EMS vehicles have a longer distance to travel to retrieve a patient.

The battery of the LUCAS device is ample enough to continually provide chest compressions to the patient during those long rides and doesn't require the constant switching of personnel due to fatigue.

"CPR guidelines say we switch every two to three minutes," Godwin said. "If we're rotating, in those two minutes, that person is starting to wear down. That pause, everything starts to slow down with the patient. [The LUCAS device] doesn't wear out. When we think about right now, we’re looking for this patient to have a better outcome."

Hoke County EMS is working to ensure anyone who may encounter a situation where the LUCAS CPR device is needed is trained on it.

"We've been training some of the fire departments and the rescue squad on it," Godwin explained. "Anybody that has the potential of being there will be educated on it."

For now, just one device is coming to Hoke County. The initial grant request was for five devices, but each system is expensive. With the community's support, Brooks hopes to increase the number of devices in the county.

"You would hate to have to face that family or that situation when you don't have the manpower when these devices are available," she said. "We want to make sure it's available in the communities that we serve."