Every frontline ambulance in the Illawarra - and the state - is now fitted with a resuscitation device that is expected to save the lives of more people who go into cardiac arrest.
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The installation of the LUCAS mechanical cardiopulmonary resuscitation machines in every Sprinter ambulance vehicle follows a two-year study involving 1300 paramedics and doctors in Wollongong and Sydney.
"Each year we know more than 8500 people across NSW experience out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, yet only about one in 10 survive," Health Minister and Keira MP Ryan Park said.
"For every minute that a patient is in cardiac arrest and not receiving effective CPR or defibrillation their chance of survival drops by 10 per cent."
The LUCAS (Lund University Cardiopulmonary Assist System) devices administer automated, consistent chest compressions to a patient.
They can do so for long periods and in difficult situations, such as when a patient is being moved down stairs.
"Using this mechanical automated device, we can make sure that CPR is delivered the most effective way at the same time giving our highly skilled paramedics an opportunity to look after another patient or assess another part of the patient's issues or injuries," Mr Park said.
NSW Ambulance senior assistant commissioner Clare Beech said the LUCAS devices provided a "new set of hands" to deliver resuscitation and they would improve the chances of people surviving "the most time-critical medical emergency".
"For a patient in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, continuous, high-quality, uninterrupted chest compressions will make the difference between life and death in some cases," Ms Beech said.
The LUCAS device likely made such a difference for Mark Sackley, keeping his heart beating after he suffered a cardiac arrest while at work in the Sydney CBD.
"You can imagine what it's like trying to get someone out of a building on 25 floors and a pretty crowded elevator with six paramedics working on you, to then get to into Pitt Street, into an ambulance and then race to a hospital, trying to do one-arm compressions in the back of the ambulance... So that is a game changer," Mr Sackley said.
Without the device - and the efforts of his colleagues and paramedics that day - he said he would not have had a fighting chance at survival.
Former Health Minister Brad Hazzard promised last year that every frontline ambulance in the state would be equipped with a LUCAS device, which were in some but not all vehicles.
It makes NSW the first state in the country to have mechanical CPR devices in every frontline ambulance.
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Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
