The Lifepak 15 and the LUCAS CPR Device are two of the pieces of equipment we carry on our ambulance.  These devices were bought for us and every other ambulance service in the state through the Mission Lifeline grant from the Helmsley Charitable Trust.

The Lifepak is one of our most used pieces of equipment.  It basically goes with us to every patient.  The Lifepak is used to monitor the patient's heart rate and rhythm.  It is also used to monitor the oxygen saturation in the blood and to monitor the patient's blood pressure.  The Lifepak is also used to obtain what we call the 12-Lead EKG to determine if a patient is having a heart attack.  We can transmit the 12-Lead EKG directly to the emergency room at either of the Bismarck or Minot facilities.

The Lifepak is also our advanced form of the basic AED.  If our patient is in cardiac arrest or goes into cardiac arrest we can switch from the 4-electrode monitoring mode to the Quick-Combo defibrillation pads and defibrillate or "shock" the patient's heart.

If the patient is in cardiac arrest or goes into cardiac arrest we then apply the LUCAS CPR Device in addition to the Lifepak.  The LUCAS device does the CPR compressions for us.  The days are gone where we had to do the CPR compressions while standing in the back of the ambulance and bouncing along on the rough roads and trying to maintain our hand position for compressions.