A fighting chance: Woodside fire paramedics have new tool to boost chances for cardiac patients' survival A fighting chance: Woodside fire paramedics have new tool to boost chances for cardiac patients' survival (April 14, 2004)

By Andrea Gemmet
Almanac Staff Writer

Woodside firefighters had put their department's new resuscitation device, the AutoPulse, into commission only the day before when they received an urgent medical call: A 74-year-old Redwood City woman was in distress, and by the time they arrived, her heart had stopped beating.

"Eight to 12 minutes into the call, she had a pulse in her wrists," said firefighter/paramedic Bob Webb. "That never happens. This is the fighting chance for patients."

The latest in cardiopulmonary resuscitation technology, the AutoPulse doesn't look like much. It resembles a big blue kickboard with a couple of buttons, an LCD display and a wide band with fastening straps. What it does, however, has the paramedics of the Woodside Fire Protection District singing its praises.

The AutoPulse, and its disposable "Life Band" chest strap that adjusts automatically, delivers extremely efficient chest compressions to patients who are in full cardiac arrest -- far better than manual chest compressions can deliver, said Chief Mike Fuge.

Broken ribs, a common side effect of manual CPR compressions, aren't a problem with the AutoPulse, and neither is fatigue, he said.

The device doesn't come cheap -- the cost is $14,300, and the disposable chest straps cost $150 apiece. An anonymous donor gave one to the fire protection district, and Chief Fuge says he was so impressed by what he saw that he asked the district's Board of Directors for permission to buy four more, one for each fire engine in the district. The board members unanimously approved the purchase at their March 29 meeting.

Local invention

The AutoPulse was developed by Revivant, a company founded by cardiovascular surgeon and local resident Dr. Thomas Fogarty, and has been successfully used in Brazil for the past six years, Chief Fuge says.

Woodside is among the first fire departments in the country to use the device; San Francisco's fire department also has one.

It's so new that doctors at Sequoia Hospital had no idea what was wrapped around the Redwood City woman when Woodside paramedics brought her in that day, said Mr. Webb.

Fire district officials plan to train members of the Citizens Emergency Response Preparedness Program, made up of Woodside and Portola Valley volunteers, in using the AutoPulse. They hope to one day stash several of them in the remote areas of the fire district along with the defibrillators that are an increasingly common sight in public buildings.

The AutoPulse does have a few limitations. It won't work on very small children or anyone with a chest bigger than 52 inches, said Battalion Chief Armando Muela, the district's emergency medical services coordinator.

It would have come in handy last month, when a man had a heart attack on the roof of a building under construction in Portola Valley, said Chief Fuge. The AutoPulse could have continued chest compressions while the man was lowered down on a ladder, something that the paramedics couldn't do, he said.

A person can compress only about one-third of the thoracic cavity while doing CPR, said Mr. Webb, but the AutoPulse can compress the entire cavity, creating far better blood circulation, even in the extremities. That's important to paramedics, who often need to inject medication into a patient's veins, he said.

"This is really a revolutionary change for the fire service," said Capt. Walt Black. "It's an incredible device."

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