The men and women of St. Tammany Parish Fire District 4 will soon have some new tools that should help reduce the risk of death from cardiac arrest.

The district recently received a $69,576 grant from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. According to Fire District 4 Chief Rick Tassin, the money will be used to purchase six mechanical chest compression devices.

The device provides continuous pressure to vital organs, as well as ventilation. Tassin said new American Heart Association guidelines require more compression instead of ventilation, or mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The technique can be exhausting to emergency personnel when performed manually, as they often must perform compression while squeezing an oxygen bag as they are riding in a careening ambulance.

EMT Basic Operator Greg Charrier, Training Officer Robert Hecker and Fire District 4 Chief Rick Tassin demonstrate a mechanical chest compression device. The district will purchase six of the units with an award from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program administered by FEMA. (Staff Photo by Anne Lautzenheiser)

“Only two EMTs are allowed in an ambulance at a time, and one is usually driving,” said Tassin. “This machine will provide compression at a consistent ration 100 percent of the time, and the other EMT can focus on administering medication and other procedures.”

The units run between $10,000 and $17,000 each, and they are currently in use by only three other emergency services in Louisiana. The AHA states that 325,000 deaths occur annually due to sudden cardiac arrest, and Tassin said these new units would help his department have a better chance to increase the rate of survival during such an episode.

An average of 5,000 calls are answered by FD4 each year, with approximately 75 percent medical in nature, said EMS Director Frank Jordan. Of those, about 30 percent involve potential cardiac arrest, which would require use of the machine.

The units first appeared in the late 1960s to early 1970s but were cost-prohibitive and used up ambulance resources inefficiently during an emergency. Technology now allows the new machines to keep up with changing AHA standards.

“If there’s a new standard for compression, we can just change out the electronic chip,” said Jordan.

The FEMA grant is one of a handful received by FD4 over the last few years. With over 80 percent of the department’s operating costs coming from millage revenue, Tassin said grants such as this one help them get updated equipment and cover other necessary costs so they tap into that funding as little as possible.

One grant a few years ago helped him hire 12 new firefighters, but the amount provided by the grant to pay them drops off each year, requiring a greater portion of tax revenue to be tapped. He points out that while the FD4 board of commissioners recently approved an increase in the millage rate, it was still less than that recommended by the parish assessor.

“The bottom line is, it saves taxpayers’ money, and we try to get as many grants like this as we can for that exact reason,” he said. “Our staff worked really hard to put this together.”