EATON — Timken Steel St. Clair Plant manager John Liddy presented Eaton Fire and EMS workers with a check for $14,881 on Friday, Oct. 18.
The funds will be used to purchase a LUCAS Chest Compression System, a device which delivers chest compressions to individuals experiencing cardiac arrest.
“Chest compressions are the most physically exhausting part of performing CPR,” Eaton Fire Dept. Chief Brian Smith said after accepting the check from Timken on Friday afternoon. “And consistent, good-quality compressions are hard to do once you start getting tired.”
The LUCAS device, Smith said, can deliver more consistent chest compressions to a person whose heart has stopped, while also leaving EMS workers free to perform other life-saving activities.
“It frees up a set of hands,” Smith said.
The device will be carried aboard the department’s fire engine, Smith said, to ensure it is always available to those who might need it.
“Regardless of where everyone is, the truck is always going to respond to a cardiac arrest,” Smith said.
According to the corporate website of Michigan-based Stryker Medical, which distributes the device, the LUCAS system can also help keep first responders safe while transporting a patient, either by helicopter or ambulance. Smith said that the device could have been used by Eaton EMS personnel at least six times over the past two months.
