LOUISVILLE, Ky. — According to the American Heart Association, heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death for people worldwide and survival rates from sudden cardiac arrest are low. Anchorage Middletown Fire & EMS has been using a new technology that is proving to be successful in addressing the disease.

What You Need To Know

  • Anchorage Middletown Fire & EMS held an event for SCA survivors to reunite with crew members who helped save them

  • The department has implemented a new ‘Neuroprotective CPR’ system that has improved SCA outcomes 

  • The technology helps with the positioning of patients while CPR is being administered to protect their brain

  • The reunification event also gave survivors the chance to meet other survivors and share their stories with each other

Emotions were high at the Anchorage Middletown Fire & EMS headquarters on Tuesday, where recent survivors of SCA reunited with crews who helped save them. 

The department began using a "Neuroprotective CPR" system in Sept. 2022 and was one of the first departments in the country to do so.

“It’s three devices that are working synergistically together that produce something greater than the sum of its parts, and it’s that combination of technology that’s helped these individuals return to a normal life,” said Kurt Bramer, the vice president of AdvancedCPR Solutions.

AdvancedCPR Solutions has the EleGARD system, the CPR technology Anchorage Middletown Fire & EMS uses. One crucial part of the EleGARD is that it helps with the positioning of the patient to preserve good brain function after they’ve been in cardiac arrest. 

Nearly 90% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the U.S. are fatal, the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation said. The new CPR system seems to have improved patient outcomes.

“Middletown Fire enjoyed one or maybe two cardiac arrest survivors a year… this is an approximation,” Bramer said. “What we have here today is six survivors, and they only represent one third of what’s been achieved in the last 18 months. That is a remarkable difference.”

Crews with St. Matthews Fire & EMS were also at the event since they work closely with the Anchorage Middletown department to assist people. While they don’t carry the CPR system, they have been trained to use it.

“The efficacy of it is really easy to see,” said Christopher Wright, a firefighter-paramedic for St. Matthews Fire & EMS. 
“You look around. You see this room full of people who are a testament to how it works.”

He also said that the reunification event is a humbling experience and survivors, like Joe Scrogham, who went into cardiac arrest in March, are glad the crews attended.

“It’s refreshing to know that they care more than just a job and come and doing it and then forgetting it,” Scrogham said. “It showed a lot of character from what I saw. Great group of guys… so friendly, so helpful.”

The event also gave the survivors and their spouses the chance to meet each other and discuss what they went through with someone who understands. 

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