St. Joseph’s Ambulance Service has upgraded equipment this year to enhance advanced cardiac life support. The project has a $400,000 value. (Photo Provided)

PARKERSBURG — St. Joseph’s Ambulance Service has upgraded equipment in a nearly 50-year commitment to advance cardiac life support in the Mid-Ohio Valley.

The ambulance service in January began a search to replace its cardiac monitor/defibrillators with a more modern device that offers features to enhance patient care.

After a nine-month period of evaluation and trials. St. Joseph’s has chosen a Stryker/Physio-Control product. It offers state-of-the-art features in pre-hospital care.

The new monitor/defibrillator allows EMS personnel to continually and accurately monitor vital signs and a patient’s medical status, including advanced critical care patient transport capabilities. The device also will have the ability to transmit the data and EKG’s to a medical facility and will incorporate the information into the medical record.

The second upgrade is a LUCAS CPR device that delivers automated compressions. The cardiac compressive devices are documented to save lives, St. Joseph’s said.

More than 99 percent of the survivors treated with LUCAS had a good neurological outcome at their 6 months follow up. EMT’s and paramedics at St. Joseph’s have already seen positive results in the community from a LUCAS trial run.

The high-quality CPR circulates blood better than it can be manually done.

The first evening the LUCAS devices were placed in service a patient was successfully resuscitated from cardiac arrest.

Providing CPR during transport is now much safer because crew members can remain restrained in the back of the ambulance while being driven to the hospital with lights and sirens as the device continues to provide CPR.

Before adding these units, doing CPR, a crew member would be standing, leaning over a patient attempting compressions while trying to stay balanced.

Less manpower is required, which keeps more ambulances available for calls, and the device never tires like humans do. The ease of use makes it the ideal machine for the job.

The device has been shown to increase survival rate of cardiac arrest up to 50 percent.

Both pieces of equipment will allow St. Joseph’s to provide the community with the best available equipment on the market for treating cardiac patients.

The initial purchase of nine monitor/defibrillators and four LUCAS CPR devices represent a $400,000 investment in the health of the community. Additional units will be added so that over time all ambulances will be equipped with the more modern equipment.