The Burton Fire District has completed its training for their new Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device that will allow firefighters to deliver emergency care quicker and more efficiently.
On Thursday, Feb. 21, the Burton Fire District, which provides both basic and advanced life support services, completed training on their new CPAP device, which is commercially known as a Go-Pap. While the fire district has provided CPAP treatment before, this new device will allow firefighters to act quicker and be more efficiently with critically ill patients who are running out of time.
When a person is in cardiac failure and their heart loses strength, fluid builds in the lungs making it extremely difficult to breath. Also, a patient having a severe life-threatening asthma attack will have such constriction of their airway that may cause them to stop breathing. A CPAP device will pressurize the airway and lungs, bringing not only relief to the patient but also sustaining their life until the arrival of Beaufort County EMS and more definitive care at the hospital.
Because this new device requires less equipment to operate and allows for the simultaneous administration of additional treatments and procedures, firefighters can now address the multiple medical needs of a critically ill patient more efficiently. This will allow firefighters to stabilize patients on scene and within minutes of their 911 call, thereby not only saving a life, but improving their condition before they reach the emergency room.
All Burton firefighters are Emergency Medical Technicians, and one of the district’s five fire stations serving the rural Gray’s Hill and Seabrook area provides advanced paramedical services. Because firefighters are often first to arrive on scene to a medical emergency and can be made available to respond to another emergency more quickly than an ambulance, Burton fire officials say this training is essential to providing the emergency services their citizens need and deserve.
