Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office Nets $250K For New Life-Saving Equipment

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office will soon be on the receiving end of funding that will be put toward additional medical equipment necessary to operate its new LUCAS chest compression systems.

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As Patch previously reported, TCSO has worked over the last two years to outfit each patrol vehicle with the life-saving devices, as ambulance response times continue to lag in more rural parts of the county.

The Tuscaloosa County Commission, during its regular meeting on Wednesday, approved a measure that will see up to $250,000 in reimbursable CARES Act funding given to the sheriff's office.

The funding, according to TCSO Chief Deputy Byron Waid, will mainly be used to pay for heart monitors to compliment the LUCAS devices.

Waid explained that, even before rampant inflation drove prices up, the heart monitors cost approximately $30,000 each.

"Those are the things we're trying to do as we bring additional personnel on, we want to make sure they will have the proper equipment to answer the calls," he told Patch on Wednesday. "It's about being able to get there, assess the patient and treat the patient properly ... It's fantastic for the community to be able to get that service to them quick, because we know we're going to be looking at a 20-minute response time in most cases for an ambulance. Because of that response time, we need to hopefully have this patient stable so they can have a good outcome."

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