Portsmouth Volunteer Fire Dept. Donates Lifesaving Equipment

It wasn’t too long ago that the Portsmouth Volunteer Fire Department was “on life support.”

Those were the words of Portsmouth Fire Department Dep. Chief MIchael P. O’Brien on Monday — the same day O’Brien announced that his department has just taken delivery of two new automated CPR devices that enable responders to provide “efficient and effective chest compressions automatically during resuscitation efforts.”

The devices, which can keep delivering compressions when a patient is moved, was purchased with a $22,000 grant from none other than the Portsmouth Volunteer Fire Department.

A few years ago, the volunteers had delivered their “last” ambulance for the town and had essentially run out of money, O’Brien said.

“Since then, the people of Portsmouth have refused to let the volunteers fade away. Donations continue to be made and the Volunteers continue to buy lifesaving equipment with this money,” O’Brien said.

A benevolent organization that raises money for medical and rescue equipment for the town of Portsmouth, the Portsmouth Volunteer Fire Department is a reason for residents to feel proud, O’Brien said.

“With so many negative and disturbing stories in the news, perhaps we can feel good about the way our town’s people continue to keep the tradition that is Portsmouth Volunteer Fire Department alive,” he said. “For eighty years now, people have been giving to the Volunteers and the Volunteers have continued to provide the Fire Department with the tools needed to save lives.”

The LUCAS automated CPR devices offer numerous advantages over humans, including the ability to perform perfect compressions when a patient is being moved. They also don’t have arms that get tired and will run for 45 minutes on a single charge.

“ In the past, compressions would be halted whenever the patient had to be moved. Not with the CPR devices; compressions continue, even as the patient is being carried down stairs or out of a house,” O’Brien said. “EMT’s sometimes must perform CPR for more than 30 minutes; the longer resuscitation efforts last the more fatigued rescuers become resulting in a decline in the quality of compressions. The Lucus device can continuously deliver quality chest compressions for more than 45 minutes on a single battery.