(Pottawattamie Co.) Five Pottawattamie County Volunteer Fire Departments received LUCAS devices from Iowa West Foundation.
Mathew Henkes, Vice President of Grants and Initiatives at Iowa West Foundation, delivered the LUCAS devices to the Hancock Volunteer Fire Department, Carson Fire and Rescue, Macedonia Volunteer Fire Department, Treynor Volunteer Fire Department and McClelland Volunteer Fire Department on Wednesday.
Henkes said they have a long time program with the rural volunteer fire departments in Pottawattamie County where they have a fund that matches the money they raise to purchase new equipment. He said in the fall their board took a look and realized that in Pottawattamie County they had seven out of the twelve volunteer departments that had these LUCAS devices.
“The LUCAS devices assist with CPR, they do chest compressions, and they’re really kind of state of the art when it comes to helping sustain someone’s life while they’re getting assistance,” explained Henkes. “As our Board was looking at this, they said we have such a strong commitment to these communities, it’s really important that we help complete the picture. The County had worked to get the first seven of these fire departments equipped and we wanted to complete the picture.”
Henkes said everyone was thrilled to receive the LUCAS devices. “In McClelland, I was talking to their Fire Chief and he said with low populations they’ve had fewer and fewer volunteers in some of the fire departments and this does the work of one person when they have an emergency and so even if you’ve got fewer people who are able to go out to respond to something, you can still get a lot done when you have equipment like this.”
(Photo courtesy of the Iowa West Foundation)
For more information on what Iowa West Foundation has to offer, visit https://www.iowawestfoundation.org.
