Jaffrey firefighters have a new piece of equipment that allows them to help monitor cardiac events, and send that information directly to responding hospitals.

The Jaffrey Firefighters Company, Inc., made the donation of a Lifepak 15 Cardiac Monitor and AED, valued at $50,000, to the town for use by the Jaffrey Fire Department. The Select Board accepted the donation following a public hearing on Tuesday.

“JFFCI’s efforts are commendable, and we thank all those who have donated to the cause,” said Select Board Chair Franklin Sterling.

Assistant Fire Chief Keith Dupuis said the fundraising for the monitor began after a weekend where the department had to respond to more than one cardiac call. He said in one instance, the department was waiting for a mutual aid ambulance from Peterborough, and because the department didn’t have access to a monitor, assessment could not begin until the ambulance arrived.

“And every second counts,” said Sterling.

“We were at a loss for being able to treat people the way we should,” Dupuis said. “That spearheaded it a bit.”

The machine has several uses, including cardiac monitoring, acting as an AED that can produce shocks to restore heart rhythm, a pulse oximeter that measures oxygen saturation in the blood and a carbon monoxide monitor.

“We’ve talked about several times on calls in the last year-and-a-half, two years, that we need to get this. We have AEDs on all the trucks; this is light years ahead of that,” said Fire Capt. Chris Bergeron. “It’s put us in a really good position to take better care of patients.”

Chief David Chamberlain said that in addition to being used on patients during medical calls, the device can also be used to monitor firefighters at fire scenes. It is also the same system used by the Jaffrey-Rindge Memorial Ambulance, and is compatible with their systems and training. The cost of the monitor includes training for Jaffrey firefighters.

Dupuis said that the firefighter company raised the funds through a combination of fundraisers, and a significant amount of community donations.

“I want to thank all the citizens and the businesses in town that really stepped up and gave us the last $20,000 push on this. The association would like to donate this to the town for use at all our emergency medical calls. We’d like to present this to the town as a donation from the Jaffrey Firefighters Company,” Dupuis said.

Firefighter Chastity Hodgson said she was privileged to accept donations for the monitor.\

“From $10 to $5,000, every single dollar counted,” Hodgson said.

Chamberlain echoed the sentiment of thanks, but including the Firefighter’s Company.

“I just want to thank the association. The Jaffrey Firefighter’s Company is a support organization for the fire department, they’ve raised hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last 20-30 years, probably more than that. These guys saw this as a need, and if it saves one life, it’s paid for itself,” Chamberlain said.

Before accepting the gift, the Select Board thanked all those involved in the donation.

“I’m proud of our community, though. It was nice to hear that people were willing to give to that, and what better cause,” Selectman Andy Lawn said.

“It’s amazing how our community supports our efforts, and we certainly appreciate it, and appreciate the JFFCI taking the initiative on doing this,” agreed Sterling.

The board voted unanimously to accept the gift of the Life Pak 15.

 

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.