BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- Beginning today, all Covington fire trucks sent to help people with serious health problems will be equipped with machines that can restart hearts.
The defibrillators are used to deliver an electric shock to a victim in cardiac arrest. The Covington Fire Department's three ambulances have had the units for four years, but because a fire pumper can sometimes get to a scene faster, Chief Joe Heringhaus equipped five fire engines, too.
"It's one of the goals I wanted to do," the chief said Thursday. "It's something I think we needed."
The Covington department is not the first to install the defibrillators, though the chief thinks Covington is the first city to equip all its "first engines" with the units. The department has a policy of always sending a pumper truck on calls for serious injury or serious health problems. That means the units will now be at every such scene, the chief said.
The units are catching on among police and fire departments across the country. The city of Mason just bought some two weeks ago for its new fire department.
The equipment also is now installed on airplanes and, in February, an American Airlines passenger from North Carolina was the first to be saved with a defibrillator on an aircraft.
About half the Covington department's 116 firefighters are trained to use them so far. The chief said he will make sure there are always several people on every shift who are trained to operate them.
Another 21 firefighters will be trained in two weeks; the rest by the first of the year.
The defibrillators cost $3,600 apiece. The city paid for them. The four in the ambulances were bought by the Kenton County Fiscal Court.
"We'll be able to better serve the citizens," Chief Heringhaus said.
"If we save one life, it'll be the best money that the city ever spent."
