LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – CPR has been done the same way for years, but now there’s a new system out on the market that’s looking to change the way CPR is performed.
“It’s always been focused on the heart and lungs. The focus now is moving to the brain and neurologically intact survival,” says Kim Marie Macygin, Advanced CPR Solutions.
She says this type of care will benefit people who have suffered sudden cardiac arrest, which is the abrupt loss of heart function.
“This is a system of care that uses the device called the EleGARD to deploy a multi-level raising of the head and thorax in order to improve the circulation to the brain,” says Macygin.
Each individual device in the system helps with circulatory support.
Through pre-clinical trials, Macygin says the method has proven to improve normal blood flow to the brain for the first time with artificial resuscitation.
“This is an amazing opportunity to provide better care than we have been able to in the past,” says Dr. Wendell Pahls, Emergency Services Medical Director.
Baptist Health Hospital will be the first in the nation to deploy this comprehensive system.
“We’re seeing doubling and tripling of the opportunity to go home neurologically intact if you have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest,” says Pahls.
Doctor Wendall Pahls says that’s a big deal. Right now, nurses and paramedics are going through training.
“Being able to improve the blood flow to the brain to such a degree the patient is now recovering function, they are starting to wake up. and that shows how much improvement we’ve made in our arrest protocols,” he says.
Dr. Pahls believes this system will ultimately be the way CPR is performed everywhere.
