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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Spokane Valley

“Pit crew” CPR

Nina Culver / The Spokesman-Review

I saw an interesting demonstration yesterday of the new "pit crew" style of CPR courtesy of the Spokane Valley Fire Department. They had a team of paramedics showing the new style, where everyone has a specific job and they rotate positions every two minutes. One does the chest compressions while others feel for a pulse, breathe for the patient, insert an IV, hold the IV bag and prepare the AED for an electric jolt. It's designed to start CPR sooner and avoid having rescuers get tired while doing chest compressions. Another chage is to wait for several minutes after a pulse returns to make sure the patient is stable for transport.  

Update: The video should be working now.



Nina Culver
Nina Culver is a freelancer for The Spokesman-Review's daily newspaper and weekly Voice sections.

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