Businesses, organizations help DFD purchase life-saving LUCAS machine

Businesses and a local organization helped the Dublin Fire Department get the money it needed to make sure all its stations have a device to help patients in cardiac arrest.

Community Bank, Fairview Park Hospital and Widow’s Oil Ministry came together to give the necessary funds ($20,237.77) for a Lund University Cardiopulmonary Assist System (LUCAS) device, an automative cardiopulmonary resuscitation machine. The new LUCAS device will make its home at Northside Fire Station. Shamrock Fire Station and Southside Fire Station already have these devices.

“Because they are over $20,000 machines, it took a little bit of time to get the third one,” said Dublin Fire Chief Matthew Cutler.

The Community Bank gave the chief a $10,000 donation almost a year ago. They asked him if there was something he had in mine to do with the money. Cutler immediately thought about Northside Fire Station not having a LUCAS device. That was the only thing that money could be used for, he said.

“I reached out to Fairview Park Hospital, and they were very interested in the project because they actually have those devices in the hospital as well,” Cutler said. “It took a little while to go through the process to be able to receive the funds.”

Widow’s Oil Ministry was the non-profit organization that received the funds from the hospital. Widow’s Oil Ministry presented the necessary funds to be able to purchase a new LUCAS device.

“Members of the community wanted to help public safety,” Cutler said. “We appreciate that.”

When firefighters arrive on a scene and have someone who needs CPR, they will begin by doing manual CPR until they can get the LUCAS on a patient

“As a human, we have to guess the proper compression depth and we try to get our timing to get the proper compression rate,” Cutler said. “All of those things have effects on a successful outcome for a patient that is experiencing a cardiac arrest. There are a couple of things that we must be really good at to give the patient a chance at survival.”

While the LUCAS does its job, the other two firefighters can do other things such as look for other injuries. When EMS arrives, the machine can continue doing CPR while the patient is transferred from the house to the ambulance.

“With that machine, nobody is having to stand beside the stretcher,” Cutler said. “I’ve gone on the ambulance and have watched somebody going down the hall in the emergency room at the hospital trying to do compressions. This machine takes care of that.”

The LUCAS device comes with two chargeable batteries. It can also be plugged into a wall with a cord. The device can also be plugged into ambulances.

Cutler said the new LUCAS device has been delivered to Northside Fire Station.