FIREFIGHTERS GET LIFESAVING TOOL.Byline: Bhavna Mistry Daily News Staff Writer Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County firefighters in the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley have a new tool to save lives - defibrillators to treat heart attack victims. Dave Inman, a Los Angeles County firefighter-paramedic who has been training co-workers on the new equipment, said the recently issued defibrillators are lightweight and portable so they can be carried on each fire engine for use on people who have gone into cardiac arrest cardiac arrest n. Abbr. CA A sudden cessation of cardiac function, resulting in loss of effective circulation. Cardiac arrest A condition in which the heart stops functioning. . ``We're speeding up the care,'' he said. ``This allows (firefighters) to do what the paramedics can do,'' Inman said. ``It will send electric pulses to reset the heart.'' In the past 15 to 20 years, manufacturers have begun producing the defibrillator defibrillator, device that delivers an electrical shock to the heart in order to stop certain forms of rapid heart rhythm disturbances (arrhythmias). The shock changes a fibrillation to an organized rhythm or changes a very rapid and ineffective cardiac rhythm to a specifically for the mobile emergency units. Capt. Harold Hofmeister said these new units are ``very small, very lightweight.'' The defibrillator unit weighs approximately 5 pounds and runs on a nine-volt Lithium battery Lithium batteries are primary batteries that have lithium metal or lithium compounds as an anode. Depending on the design and chemical compounds used lithium cells can produce voltages from 1.5V to about 3V, twice the voltage of an ordinary zinc-carbon battery or alkaline cell. , which can last up to five years. ``It's the most definitive care for someone in arrest,'' Inman said. The defibrillator can reduce by half the time required to administer treatment to heart patients by restoring the heart to a normal beating rhythm. Fire trucks are expected to receive the new equipment in the near future. CAPTION(S): photo PHOTO Los Angeles County Fire Department Not to be confused with Los Angeles Fire Department. The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD), serves unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, as well as 58 cities and towns that choose to have the county provide fire and EMS services, including the City of La Capt. Ray Ribar displays a heart defibrillator at Station 131. Jeff Goldwater/Daily News |
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