BEND, OR -- Bend Fire & Rescue is changing how it responds to cardiac arrest calls. EMS Training Captain Petar Hossick says paramedics are learning the new Double Sequential Defibrillator technique, which now is being used in a number of cities around the country. Although, he believes Bend is the first in Oregon to begin training with two Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) at once. "For a select group of patients, we’re going to basically bring in two defibrillators - two of our $50,000 machines - and basically shock both of them at the same time," Hossick tells KBND News, "So, when you watch those medical dramas and they pull out the pads and stuff, think about two people at once doing the same thing: One front to back, one side to side." He says it changes the direction of electricity through the heart.

Hossick says a recent study found patients had about a 13% chance of survival when medics use just one AED, "If you jump up to Double Sequential, it jumps to 30%. So, a significant increase in survival for those patients."

Bend Fire has one of the highest cardiac survival rates of any agency in the U.S. and Hossick says using "Double Sequential" will help even more patients survive. But it's contingent on a bystander jumping in and starting CPR immediately and continuing until paramedics arrive, "What we’re adopting, you could not do without the community’s help. They have to do CPR before we get there to make this next piece work."

Hossick says it's not easy to coordinate simultaneous shocks with additional personnel on scene. Medics trained on the new process Friday, "We’re trying to do all this in the first 4-6 minutes. So, it’s one more piece of this whole dance that we’re doing. When we add this into it, it just adds another little ripple to all the boxes we’re trying to check off in the very beginning of these cardiac arrests. So, it does take some training to make all these pieces flow together." He adds, "It’s a bit of a dance for our paramedics to get all this done, because we’re doing a lot of other things at the same time. And, most importantly, we’ve got to keep that good CPR up for our people. We know that is the base of everything and it’s what gets the most bang for the buck."

Bend Fire offers free community CPR training on the first Wednesday of every month. Click HERE for details.