Photo & Words by Al Blanton

This Monday the Walker County Commission approved the purchase of 20 life-saving CPR LUCAS devices for use by the Walker County Sheriff’s Office and local firefighting departments. 

The Sheriff’s Office will purchase the devices from Cardiac Solutions, a Birmingham-based company that specializes in the sale of life-saving equipment, including Automated External Defibrillators, or AEDs, along with a suite of Program Management Services. 

All of the funds used for the purchase will be reimbursable by CARES Act. 

Nick Key, Director of Operations at the Walker County Sheriff’s Office, gave a presentation to the Commission and stressed that the devices could help save a life. “Often, deputies arrive on the scene before medical personnel, so this puts us in a prime position to utilize life-saving equipment,” said Key. 

According to Jon Seale, CEO of Cardiac Solutions, the devices not only help those in a cardiac emergency, but protect law enforcement officers as well. Manual CPR is a possible transmission route of Covid-19 because the mouth and nose of personnel come in close contact with the mouth and nose of the patient. 

“I think it’s a great initiative for Walker County to be proactive thinking in taking care of their deputies,” said Seale. 

Seale said that CPR compressions are “a daunting task” for first responders who arrive on the scene of a cardiac emergency. “If a deputy pulls up to a scene and there’s someone unresponsive, it’s hard for the deputy to put the AED on the patient and also do compressions,” he said. “So that just alleviates one more step in the process.” 

The Sheriff’s office will keep 8 devices and distribute the other 12 to firefighting agencies throughout the county. Key said the department is currently trying to identify fire departments that are in most need of the devices.

“These are devices that some of these departments wouldn’t otherwise be able to obtain due to funding,” he said. 78