Organizations like the Clear Lake Lions are vital to communities, providing support and financial help to countless groups and individuals in need.
Members of the Clear Lake Fire Dept. attended the Lions meeting Tuesday night to show appreciation and thank them for the donation that allowed them to purchase equipment that was used to save a local woman’s life recently.
Feb. 27 the department responded to a call made by Dale Perkins, whose wife, Sandy, had fallen to the floor and was having trouble breathing.
After they arrived at the scene, Perkins went into cardiac arrest. They began manual CPR while setting up their LUCAS chest compression device.
LUCAS devices provide effective, uninterrupted chest compressions for cardiac arrest patients, which is difficult and tiring to perform manually for any length of time. LUCAS compressions are also able to sustain a higher blood flow to the heart and brain compared to manual compressions.
Perkins’ heart stopped and was started twice before she was loaded into the ambulance to be rushed to the emergency room. She coded three more times during the ambulance ride.
Although paramedics didn’t have much hope, she survived. Doctors told her later very few people survive what she went through, and it would have been extremely difficult to have the positive outcome without the LUCAS. It was the Clear Lake Fire Dept.’s first save using the device.
The department approached the Lions in 2015 to request a donation to help purchase two of the devices, one for each of their stations. They were given enough to pay the entire amount for both, which were ordered that July.
“This wasn’t about getting the latest ‘toy,’ said Captain Matt Lunser. “For people who live in rural communities, it takes longer for help to arrive and to get to the hospital. This type of equipment can be key to survival. For this community this is very important, and we pushed hard to get them.”
“It’s so important to have equipment like this to help people in rural areas survive,” said Perkins. “What they [the Lions] did, they were part of the whole equation of saving my life. A thank you doesn’t seem enough to express my appreciation for everyone who was a part of this, the Lions, the firefighters, the paramedics and the doctors.”
To thank them for helping save her life, Perkins invited the entire fire department to a spaghetti dinner. Firefighters don’t often hear how their efforts turned out, so they were pleased she contacted them to share her story.
“We want the Lions to know the unit itself was key to her survival,” said Lunser explaining why they came to thank the organization. “Without it she probably wouldn’t be here.”
“When you donate to the Lions it’s going towards important things.”
