New device may help save lives

When rescue workers must halt CPR to navigate a patient to the hospital, the person’s blood pressure drops, as do chances the heart will restart.

Newport Beach fire Capt. Rick Zaccaro called some Newport Beach homes “a nightmare” when it comes to trying to get the person onto a stretcher and out of the house while paramedics apply CPR.

“The biggest problem with CPR is it’s not effective when you’re moving the patient,” engineer Tim Richards said.

Rescue workers now have a new tool to help solve that problem. City medics on Friday learned how to use the AutoPulse Non-invasive Cardiac Support Pump, a device that pumps chests like a pair of paramedic’s hands to get the heart working.

A chest compression to pump blood throughout the body is an imperfect science, the trainees said. They’re supposed to push the chest down about two inches; but when the person is resting on something soft or being carried away, how much pressure to apply is a guessing game, fire officials said.

The AutoPulse appears to eliminate all those variables by applying a steady rhythm of pumping.

It has its own board for people to lie on, about half the length of the traditional body-length one, and calibrates compressions to the person’s size. A soft band, about a foot wide, wraps around the person’s mid-section, centering on the sternum. A motor in the board tightens and loosens the band around patients in a perfect compression rhythm and pauses every 30 seconds so they can get oxygen.

“The idea is to get this thing on as fast as you can. It’s so much easier than manual CPR,” medic Chris Brown said.

The machine can pump while medics use a defibrillator to shock the heart or race to an ambulance.

Firefighters remain cautiously optimistic until they see it in real-world use.

“If it works as well as they say, it’s going to be a cultural shift for us. Firefighters are used to rushing in and going straight to CPR. But now they do other things. It gives us more manpower, increasing our efficiency,” Capt. Justin Carr said. “The reaction is kind of a wow factor.”

Each of the department’s three ambulance units has an AutoPulse, each valued at about $15,000, department spokeswoman Jennifer Schulz said. At the end of the trial period in early May, the department hopes to buy them plus five more, she said, adding that officials hope to pay with state grants.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.