German, French Services Buy ZOLL's Automated CPR Device
ZOLL Medical Corporation announced two big successes in Europe for its AutoPulse® Non-invasive Cardiac Support Pumps, which are automated, portable devices delivering consistent, uninterrupted chest compressions called for by the 2005 American Heart Association and European Resuscitation Council Guidelines. ZOLL, based in Chelmsford, Mass., said the Federal State of Berlin has equipped all of the Doctor's Ambulance vehicles and the Fire Brigade Training Center in the German capital city (with about 3.3 million residents, it has the largest fire brigade in Germany) with them, and the French Fire Brigade, Service Departmental D'Incendie et de Secours (SDIS 95) of Val d'Oise, France, has contracted for 80 of them to equip all of its rescue vehicles in a $1.1 million order.
ZOLL said Dr. Michael Toursarkissian, a director of the Working Committee of EMS Physicians Berlin and Senior Physician for Anaesthesia and ICU at Red Cross Hospital Berlin, recommended Berlin's purchase following a two-year trial of the device. "We're extremely pleased that the fire brigade of Berlin has recognized the contribution AutoPulse makes in helping to save the lives of SCA victims by delivering consistent, high-quality chest compressions," ZOLL President/CEO Richard A. Packer said in a March 20 news release. "AutoPulse moves more blood more effectively than manual compressions, thereby providing the best possible patient care."
Val d'Oise SDIS 95 serves a population of 1.1 million people in a northwest suburb of Paris with a fleet of 70 ambulances. At the time the French agreement was announced March 11, about 2,500 AutoPulse units had been deployed in hospitals and emergency services worldwide, according to the company.