Fire Department Gets Grant for Updated LifePaks

The  and EMS rang in 2012 with some good news — they'll get four new LifePak 15 monitor/defibrillators thanks to a federal grant.

That figures out to one piece of equipment per ambulance, which will bring each unit up to speed with the life-saving technology that monitors a person's blood pressure, pulse and temperature, among other things. The equipment tells medical personnel what they need to know about the patient before arriving at the hospital.

"It's reading everything about you," Fire Chief John Bacon said.

The new LifePak monitors replace ones that were about 12 to 15 years old. The department expects the new equipment sometime in the coming months.

The $160,000 grant from FEMA covers the four LifePak monitors at about $35,000 a piece. The city must contribute 5 percent of the $160,000, which comes out to $8,000. North Canton City Council is slated to approve that at an upcoming meeting, Bacon said.

The department's current LifePak monitors read a person's heart rhythm and heart rate. Bacon said the arrival of the new monitors brings the department up to speed with the newest technology.

"Technology changes so much. It's like a computer; you buy something and two years later it's outdated. But with the LifePaks, the technology has grown leaps and bounds in the last 10 to 15 years in what you can do with them and how they work."