The Montgomery County Hospital District rolled out its ResQ CPR system pilot program to several fire departments in Montgomery County on Sept. 14.

The system is certified to increase the survival rate of patients that suffer cardiac arrest by 49 percent one year after its use. It does so by adding a suction effect during CPR, as opposed to traditional compression-only CPR, resulting in increases in blood flow during CPR, said Brad Ward, MCHD quality coordinator in the cardiac specialty.

The district is the first in the state, and one of the first 10 districts throughout the U.S., to implement the system, Ward said.

“The easiest way to describe it is as a suction cup with handles on it,” Ward said. “When you do regular CPR, you compress the chest and then you let go—so you are reliant on the chest expanding back. Because of the suction cup, you are also forcing the chest to expand. That allows more blood to flow during CPR.”

As of December, first responders in The Woodlands, South Montgomery County and Porter have used the device on 25 patients, Ward said. The district will consider using the device throughout the county if it continues to see the desired result.

“So far the system is working pretty well for us; we are seeing the results that we expected,” Ward said. “We are looking at it to see if it is working over the long term.”