Gloucester County First Responders Equipped With LUCAS Devices

When 55-year-old Franklin Township resident Howard Maier experienced an acute onset of chest pain while at home in March, he immediately called 911. While he was being treated and transported to an area emergency department by first responders, Maier experienced cardiac arrest.

The two-person Gloucester County Emergency Service (GCEMS) crew immediately stopped the ambulance and initiated CPR. They also requested assistance from the nearby GCEMS Quick Response Vehicle (QRV).

The QRV was equipped with a Lund University Cardiopulmonary Assist System (LUCAS) device. LUCAS is an electromechanical chest compression system that performs CPR with high accuracy and better consistency than traditional manual CPR.

It can be used when EMTs are physically unable to perform manual CPR in certain settings, like prolonged resuscitation or while carrying a patient down a flight of stairs. LUCAS is able to continue providing CPR during these patient movements.

The LUCAS device was transferred to the two-man crew, which then continued on to the hospital with the device deployed. Maier was subsequently successfully resuscitated and has since made a full recovery.

“There is no doubt that his equipment helped save Mr. Maier’s life and that by having it onboard our ambulances and emergency vehicles it can help save more,” Gloucester County Freeholder Dan Christy, liaison to GCEMS, said. “There are certain situations where EMT’s cannot safely and continually provide CPR and this LUCAS equipment could help be the difference between life or death.”

For the last few years, certain emergency vehicles were equipped with LUCAS devices, but those devices always had to be moved from vehicle to vehicle, such as in Maier’s case.

Now, all GCEMS ambulances and QRVs are equipped with LUCAS devices, Christy and Freeholder Director Robert M. Damminger recently announced.

“We have already seen this equipment help save the life of one of our citizens, and we are fortunate to have a proactive GCEMS chief and EMTs who are constantly training and utilizing technology and equipment to help their patients,” Damminger said.

“When we learned about the success of the equipment on patients and how it can be safer for EMTs to use in certain situations, the county made the decision to equip all of our ambulances and QRVs with the device,” Christy said.