New life-saving technologies in place
for Gates Volunteer Ambulance Service

Gates Volunteer Ambulance Service (GVAS) is putting three new life-saving technologies into service: a program of providing advanced medications to patients before they arrive at the hospital; a device that allows life-saving oxygen to be supplied under direct pressure and a resuscitation device that performs automated chest compression during CPR.

The advanced medication program offers paramedics the ability to provide more powerful medications to the patient in the field to significantly improve patient comfort by reducing pain and reducing the effects of seizures.

Many patients with chronic heart problems have difficulty breathing and while GVAS personnel can administer immediate treatments to help them, in a few cases they still need additional assistance. To help these patients, GVAS will be putting Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (C-PAP) equipment on each of the ambulances. These devices along with advanced medication therapies already being provided by GVAS personnel provide immediate relief to patients with breathing problems by providing life-saving oxygen under pressure as they breath.

When a patient's heart stops beating, every minute matters. Brain damage can begin just four to six minutes after the heart stops pushing oxygenated blood, according to the American Heart Association. As part of a six-month evaluation, GVAS is fielding an automatic CPR machine that takes the place of manual CPR and improves patients' chances of survival after their heart has stopped.

The purpose of CPR is to get oxygenated blood flowing back through the heart to the brain. Without immediate CPR, approximately 95 percent of cardiac arrest victims die before making it to the hospital. With CPR, chances for survival increase dramatically, but sometimes even that is not enough.

The automatic CPR machine automatically pumps the patient's chest in order to circulate blood to the heart and brain. It is attached to a vest, which is slipped on the patient. It measures the size of the patient's chest, and exerts the right amount of compression over the whole chest.
"The implementation of these new technologies highlights our commitment and our ability to provide the highest quality emergency medical services to our community," said Ed Mauro, president of Gates Volunteer Ambulance Service. "We must do everything possible to help our residents, especially those in the most critical condition, during that 'golden hour' before they reach the hospital."

Gates Volunteer Ambulance technicians will be available to explain and demonstrate some of these new technologies at an open house Saturday, October 9 from 9 a.m. until noon at the Gates Public Safety Building at 1001 Elmgrove Road (near the corner of Elmgrove Road and Buffalo Road). This open house will be held in conjunction with the regularly scheduled car seat inspection clinic also held that day.

For information contact Nancy West, public relations director, Mauro, or Randy Campbell, administrator of Gates Volunteer Ambulance Service, Inc. at (585) 247-5519.