How progressive CPR method is helping Germantown, Collierville fire departments save lives

How progressive CPR method is helping Germantown, Collierville fire departments save lives
At one point you're mowing your lawn and the next you're unconscious, on the ground, suffering a heart attack.

That's what happened to 63-year-old Jack Fong.

But due to Germantown Fire Department's implementation of Neuroprotective CPR, Fong survived his March 2022 heart attack with little to no neurological issues. Fong awoke in the hospital where doctors discovered he had an artery block.

"I didn't realize they had specialized equipment that can do (CPR) now," Fong said at a media event Wednesday inside Germantown Fire Station #4. "They prop you up and have these compression things... and they (started) it in 2020. If (my heart attack) was anytime before that, I would've been done."

Dr. Joe Holley, Tennessee EMS medical director, said Germantown Fire Department is the first in the state to use Neuroprotective CPR — which consists of a mechanical compression machine, an elevation machine for the head and a breathing tube.

The bundle for CPR, about $20,000 for each set, is inside each Germantown ambulance, so the municipality has about seven or eights kits, Holley said.

After Germantown began using the full CPR kit in 2020, Collierville Fire Department followed suit — making Germantown and Collierville the only fire departments in Shelby County to use the systems, Holley said.

"I'd love to see us continue to roll this out in all the services," he said. "Most of the services in the area that I work with are using the automated CPR devices... this is sort of the next phase."

Holley, Tel Aviv University medical student Cole Ettingoff, Dr. Keith Lurie, inventor of several of the technologies used by Germantown and Collierville fire departments, and some firefighters demonstrated how to use the CPR system during the media event.

As Ettingoff laid on the table inside the garage of the fire station at 3031 Forest Hill Irene Road, Holley and Lurie explained the equipment, where it goes and how it works. About three Germantown EMTs used the equipment on Ettingoff, showing the setup for CPR that took about 27 seconds.

Lurie explained people who suffer from a heart attack tend to have neurological deficits, but the systems Germantown and Collierville use help lower the likelihood of brain issues by allowing 50% to 100% blood flow to the brain.

"Many places around the country are already using it, but it's not enough," Lurie said. "Communities that do care, as much as you care here in Germantown and Collierville, then you don't have to have the disasters, help is on the way and help is equipped with tools, technology and trained personnel to do a great job, and we're here to celebrate that."

Unlike Fong, John Christman did not receive the Neuroprotective CPR when he suffered cardiac arrest, although he awoke with little to no neurological issues too, Christman said Wednesday.

While swimming in the pool in the Germantown Athletic Club, Christman suffered cardiac arrest and lifeguards pulled him out of the water and began CPR on him.

Germantown EMTs arrived and took over, then immediately rushed him to the hospital where he eventually woke up. Christman said because he takes care of his health and body he avoided neurological deficits, but he wishes the emergency personnel used Neuroprotective CPR on him so he would have awoken sooner.

Holley and Lurie agreed every ambulance service should utilize Neuroprotective CPR and they hope to see the system expand into Memphis and Shelby County fire departments.