Franklin EMS Receives Emergency Equipment Grant

Franklin County’s ambulances will receive equipment upgrades this month thanks to a $55,000 EMS grant awarded to George E. Weems Memorial Hospital recently by the Florida Department of Health EMS Trust Fund. The grant will enable the hospital to purchase three LUCAS Compression Systems for the county’s ambulance fleet. The grant also funds the purchase of five Lifepak CR2 AEDs which will be placed throughout the county facilities.

“This will help us update our equipment in all of our ambulances and provide additional life-saving equipment all across the county,” said David Walker, Weems CEO.

The LUCAS device is a mechanical chest compression device that helps lifesaving teams deliver chest compressions to sudden cardiac arrest patients; in the field, on the move and in the hospital. The chest compression systems will be in each of the ambulances stationed in Apalachicola, Eastpoint and Carrabelle.

An AED, or automated external defibrillator, is used to help those experiencing sudden cardiac arrest. It is a medical device that can analyze the heart’s rhythm and, if necessary, deliver an electrical shock, or defibrillation, to help the heart re-establish an effective rhythm. The defibrillators will be housed at the D.W. Wilson Sports Complex and the Franklin County Courthouse annex in Apalachicola, at the Vrooman Park in Eastpoint, the Will S. Kendrick Sports Complex in Carrabelle and Chillas Hall in Lanark Village.

“The approval of this grant is the first step for the community CPR initiative that EMS has begun with the support of David Walker and Weems Hospital” said Richard Lewis, Franklin County EMS Director.