Bennington Rescue Chief Ben Tysor demonstrates the new automated equipment that performs CPR on patients. Bennington is the first department in Douglas County to have them.

New equipment helps Bennington

Fire & Rescue save lives

by Mary Lou Rodgers

Once again, a volunteer fire and rescue department is on the cutting edge of technology. Bennington's volunteers now have a way to perform CPR that is more dependable and efficient than the usual manual method. Bennington Fire and Rescue is the first department in Douglas County to have the new CPR equipment.

Using money donated as memorials, the Bennington department has purchased two Zoll Auto Pulse medical units, priced at $14,000 apiece. The equipment looks like a short stretcher that fits under the upper body of a patient. Straps that go across the chest do the compression that emergency medical responders normally do by hand.

Benningon Rescue Chief Ben Tysor explained that there are several advantages to the new automated method of CPR. One of them is the very practical element of having room to perform the procedure.

With the patient often at home on the second floor, in the confined space of a bathroom, getting three people in there to put the patient on a stretcher and perform traditional CPR can be very challenging. As the patient is carried downstairs, the responder can only do a limited amount of compressions. With the automated unit, however, the patient can be placed on the unit and continuous, steady CPR begins immediately and continues as the patient is carried downstairs and loaded into the rescue squad.

Another advantage is that the unit can be hooked to a heart monitor, which automatically records how the heart beat changes. It can also give a shock when needed and report all activity, even when drugs are given. The machine adjusts for age and heart rate.

Tysor said that it takes fewer people to perform CPR with this equipment. The pumping action on the patient's chest must be done at the rate of 100 times a minute. The person administering it can only keep that up for a short time, so usually, three rescue personnel rotate to keep the CPR going at the right intensity. With the Auto Pulse machine, the compression is continuous and consistent.

"Zoll (the manufacturer) said the save rates are dramatically higher," Tysor said. "The resuscitation percentages from not having a pulse to having it are dramatically increased."

What many people don't realize, Tysor noted, is that performing CPR can break the ribs. The machine, since it compresses the chest, does not harm the ribs. It pumps the heart to circulate the blood and brings the patient to consciousness. It can equal the heart's ability to pump the blood, while the manual method is only equivalent to only about 30 percent of the heart's ability, Tysor added.

What may not be done in this type of CPR is the breathing portion of the rescue effort. Surprisingly, that is not a highly significant part of the procedure, Tysor pointed out. The American Heart Association is now teaching CPR that does not involve the breathing portion because it is not as critical, and they find that people are more willing to learn and perform CPR if it does not involve mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

The Bennington Fire and Rescue is working with Linda Jensen from Immanuel and their medical advisor, Dr. Holcomb, on training to use the equipment.

"It was a little bit of a challenge getting the equipment approved," Tysor said. Now that they are in place in both rescue squads, other departments that Bennington provides mutual aid to will also have access to them. "I think other departments will follow," Fire Chief Jeff Carlsen said.