LAKEPORT — It pumps blood through the body better than the heart and Lakeport fire crews will continue to use it to save lives if they can raise enough money to pay for it.
The Lakeport fire station will host a pancake breakfast 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday to help buy the automated CPR chest compression machine. The device gives continuous compressions to patients whose hearts stopped to keep up pressure and a pulse while paramedics transport them to the hospital. But it costs $15,000, Chief Ken Wells of Lakeport fire said. “It could save a life.”
The machine looks somewhat like a half-length gurney. Medics strap it to the patient with a lifeband that tightens and compresses the person”s whole chest to the machine, pumping blood through the body and brain until they arrive at the hospital.
“It replaces a medic or EMT having to do chest compressions while working a code blue,” Wells said.
The machine frees up a set of hands to do advanced procedures or to carry the person to the ambulance, Wells said. Because the machine compresses the whole chest, it does better CPR than medics who just compress the sternum. It”s battery-operated and fits most patients. The device has different settings for patients who have a tube down their throat to help them breathe and those who don”t, firefighter paramedic Spencer Johnson said. It also comes with a tarp with handles to help move the patient, as well as batteries, chargers, lifebands and a case. Medics used the machine a few days after they got it and were able to restore a pulse in a patient who wasn”t breathing, Johnson said.
“On a regular call, somebody has to be doing CPR the whole time, mimicking the heart,” Johnson said. “Unfortunately, when you have somebody doing CPR momentarily they have to stop to turn a corner, get the patient on the gurney and into the ambulance.”
Sutter Lakeside Hospital, Early Lake Lions and Lakeport Kiwanis donated money for the machine as did a number of groups that donated less than $1,000.
The pancake breakfast fundraiser will be held at the Lakeport Fire Protection District station at 445 N. Main St. in Lakeport. People can buy tickets at the firehouse or from Kiwanis members for $6 each or a family ticket for a parent and two or more children younger than 18 for $20. Wells said because Lakeport fire offers mutual aid to neighboring districts and many people work and shop in the city, the machine will help people who don”t live in Lakeport.
“It”s beneficial to everybody in the county who comes to Lakeport,” Wells said. Firefighter paramedic Tony Cuppoletti said the department would love to get two machines if people and organizations are willing to donate the money.
“This would definitely help save lives we wouldn”t otherwise be able to save,” Cuppoletti said. “We”ve used it at least half a dozen times.”
