ASHLAND — The defibrillators inside the Ashland Fire Division’s four ambulances are no longer going to be serviced by the manufacturer. So the city needs to buy new ones.
Ashland City Council unanimously approved the purchase of four new defibrillators for roughly $245,000 on Tuesday.
To be clear, the defibrillators inside the fire division’s ambulances are still working. But the manufacturer — Physio-Control — notified the city it will no longer service the devices or provide parts after 2024.
“They’re at their lifespan,” said Rick Anderson, the city’s fire chief.
The ones being used are as old as 11 years. Another model is from 2014, he said. Anderson said the average lifespan is between seven and eight years.
The new defibrillators — a device that uses an electric shock to restore a normal heartbeat — will have more features. Anderson said they will let hospital staff see what medics see in real time.
“So we’ll be able to do an EKG and send that data to the hospital via a modem … they integrate with our reporting system,” Anderson said. An EKG, by the way, is short for electrocardiogram — a test that measures the electrical signals in the heart to check its rhythm and heartbeat.
Anderson and Ashland Mayor Matt Miller said the new defibrillators will arrive in the next couple months.
How many ambulances does AFD have?
Currently, Ashland’s fire division owns and operates four ambulances. Three run out of central station on Cleveland Avenue and another runs out of Station 2 on Mifflin Avenue.
Anderson said four ambulances serve the city well. But there are times when all four ambulances are in service.
“So if we have four out (on calls), we’re out of (paramedics and EMTs),” he said when asked if the city is in need of more ambulances. “We can use more, but we’d need the staffing to man them.”
The fire division handled 4,852 calls across both stations in 2023, a 5.5-percent increase from 2022’s volume.
The vast majority of those calls, according to Anderson, are public assistance, or EMS calls.
Anderson said the fire division still awaits a new ambulance. It will replace an ambulance that has been in service since 2007.
He expects the vehicle to arrive later this year.