Tuscaloosa Fire Rescue gets new life-saving device

By WVUA 23 News Reporter Whitney Liebold

Every year, more than 700,000 Americans wind up in sudden cardiac arrest. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nine out of 10 people suffering a cardiac arrest incident will die without medical intervention.

Tuscaloosa Fire Rescue is focused on changing that statistic, and they’re getting help from a new piece of equipment. It’s called Elegard, and it’s designed to position patients during CPR and increase their chances of survival.

“From what I understand, there is a doctor who put together the research as far as elevating the head during CPR and what it does for the brain and what it does for the profusion as far as allowing circulation when we are doing CPR,” said TFR Lt. Rhett Williamson.

On Wednesday, TFR went through their first day of training with the device, and they’ll be learning more the rest of this week.

Williamson said these devices should be on the trucks and ready for use by March 15.