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Donation funds CPR device for Mich. fire department

A grant of more than $21,000 will allow the department to purchase a LUCAS device

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The Blissfield Township Fire Department received a grant of more than $21,000 from the Valero Energy Foundation. The grant will allow the department to purchase a LUCAS CPR device.

Photo/Blissfield Township Fire Dept. Facebook

The Daily Telegram, Adrian, Mich.

BLISSFIELD TWP. — Firefighters in Blissfield Township will be able to get a life-saving device thanks to a grant from the Valero Energy Foundation.

The foundation, which is the philanthropic arm of the Valero Energy Corp., awarded a grant for $21,059.13 to the Blissfield Township Fire Department Thursday. It is to be used to purchase a LUCAS device, which provides lifesaving CPR.

Blissfield Township Fire Chief Dale Fruchey and Capt. Joe Gallo were on hand to receive the grant Thursday at the Valero Renewables plant in Riga Township.

“We greatly appreciate this gift from Valero,” Fruchey said in a news release. “Being able to add the LUCAS device to our department will provide a great benefit to our surrounding community and will enable us to provide better care for our patients.”

The LUCAS (Lund University Cardiopulmonary Assist System) device helps provide consistent and safer chest compressions when CPR is being administered to a patient. The patient can be safely moved and transported, and defibrillation can occur while the device is operating.

With the LUCAS device, fatigue, individual variations and psychological factors are removed from the CPR process, and there is no need to switch between paramedics every two minutes.

“We recommended approval for this grant in full support of our first responders and the difference it will make in emergency medical care,” Brad Geyman, the plant manager of Valero Renewables in Riga, said.

The Valero Foundation “provides funding to a variety of nonprofit agencies for programs and services supporting education, basic human needs and health care,” a news release said.

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©2020 The Daily Telegram, Adrian, Mich.

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