BHFD firefighter and paramedic Chris Balassanian, left, and Charlie Miller demonstrated how the LUCAS device is used for patients suffering from cardiac arrest. (photo courtesy of BHFD)

The Beverly Hills and Los Angeles fire departments are using a lifesaving mechanical device to save the lives of patients suffering a heart attack or cardiac arrest.

Known as the LUCAS Chest Compression System, the mechanical device is affixed to a patient’s chest to provide automatic cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR. It allows paramedics and medical personnel to complete other tasks. The BHFD was among the first fire departments to implement use of the device in 2020, and administrators said it has been a game-changer.

“The city of Beverly Hills always wants to provide the highest level of service and the LUCAS device is one piece of emergency equipment that helps us save lives,” BHFD Chief Greg Barton said. “It shows the commitment of Beverly Hills to provide that potentially life-saving equipment to serve the community.”

“We use it at the scene and during the transport process. They can manage the patient more effectively,” BHFD EMS coordinator Sean Stokes said. “It’s constant chest compressions [from] a machine. The whole time, it will tell you if the compressions are not what they should be, and we can control the depth, the rate and the different parameters. It makes sure the patient is getting the correct compressions.”

Stokes said the BHFD has five LUCAS devices, one in each of the department’s ambulances. The cost of the five machines was approximately $75,000. He said the department responds to approximately 30 cardiac arrest calls each year.

The LAFD, a much larger department, also uses the LUCAS devices. LAFD spokesman Nicholas Prange did not have the exact number in use, but said they are strategically kept with EMS units throughout the city and deployed when paramedics are called to treat a patient suffering cardiac arrest.

“All of the EMS captains have these and are sent to the scene. Paramedics will start CPR and when the EMS captain responds, they apply the device,” Prange said. “It frees up one of the paramedics to help in other ways. They are showing good outcomes. We hope they save more lives.”

Stokes said the LUCAS devices are part of a multi-pronged approach to treat people suffering from cardiac arrest that includes specialized treatment once they get to the hospital. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center uses the LUCAS device and has special equipment known as ECMO.

“The LUCAS device has a lot of benefits. The technology allows for the best available chest compressions to be provided to the patient as we’re trying to resuscitate them from their cardiac arrest,” said Dr. Sam Torbati, associate professor and co-chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine and medical director of emergency medicine at Cedars-Sinai. “We think it’s a wonderful device for pre-hospital providers to have access to and we use it ourselves in the emergency department to make sure that the depth of chest compressions and the quality of chest compressions is optimized.”

Torbati said the ECMO technology is used in the most serious cases.

“ECMO is a very complicated procedure, basically full life support,” Torbati added. “It’s a technique where we put patients on complete heart and lung bypass. It was originally a technology that was used in the operating room for patients undergoing major cardiac surgery, where we had to stop their heart so that we can operate on the heart. But at the same time, we needed to make sure that the patient’s brain and rest of the body continued to receive blood flow and oxygen. We now have ECMO technology that we can deploy in places outside of the operating room.”

Torbati said Cedars-Sinai is among the few hospitals offering ECMO technology in L.A. County. Others include UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles General Medical Center and Torrance Memorial Medical Center.

“Because this technology is very advanced and requires both advanced equipment and trained specialists and staff, it is not available in most hospitals. Most cities throughout the country don’t even have any hospitals with them all together,” Torbati said. “Beverly Hills is a very special community to us at Cedars-Sinai. They are fortunate to have access to the most advanced services there are in terms of both resuscitation and technology.”