Guardian Air Transport Installs New CPR Machines

Aug. 24—Guardian Air Transport has installed a new device in their helicopters, meant to make giving in-flight CPR easier and safer. After a trial period, the autopulse, as it's known, has been in use across the company's entire fleet.

Most things are harder to do in a helicopter, and CPR is no exception. The interior space is smaller than that of a Volkswagen Bug, according to flight paramedic Dean Hoffman, with four people inside (the patient, the pilot and two medical professionals), along with a variety of medical equipment. To be able to maneuver wearing while all of the safety equipment and apply enough pressure for CPR to be effective is incredibly difficult.

"Before we had this device, people legitimately just hoped that they didn't have a cardiac arrest in flight. If they did, they would just do the best they had with the tools they could," Hoffman said.

He specified that this was not due to a lack of skill, but that "the aircraft was the limiting factor."

"This is an industry issue," Hoffman said. "Nobody in the air medical realm is able to do chest compressions safely in the helicopter or airplane."

Tony Carrozzino, chief flight paramedic and business development manager for Guardian, said there had been an increased focus on high-quality CPR over the past decade and that recommended standards for the depth and rate of compression had also risen.

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