What They Bought:

• ALS Monitors
• SCBAs

How the Grant Has Helped:

The Sun City Fire District serves a population of 48,000 senior citizens in a twenty square mile service area located approximately 10 miles northwest of Phoenix in the Arizona desert. The District’s 76 full-time suppression personnel provide dedicated emergency service to the citizens of Sun City, Youngstown, and Circus Point, and through an automatic aid system, other areas outside of their geographic boundaries. SCFD’s services include structural and wildland fire suppression, medical first response, advanced life support, airport rescue firefighting, hazmat operational level and rescue operational level services.

Sun City was founded as a retirement community in the 1960’s where all residents are required to be 55 or more years of age. Because of this unique demographic make-up, SCFD has a special demand and obligation to provide advanced life support services with a special consideration for the needs of the elderly in emergency scenarios. Annually, SCFD responds to more than 12,000 calls for assistance, including 8700 calls for emergency medical assistance.

Sun City FD received a 2007 AFG Grant to purchase 6 HeartStart ALS Monitors and 45 CBRN SCBAs with NFPA upgrades for 2007. These new monitors have the ability to transmit patient data to the treating hospital, allowing those who are experiencing a cardiac emergency to get an appropriate diagnosis quickly so that treatment can commence and the hospital can be prepared for aggressive treatment upon their arrival.  This feature prevents delays in treatment that could result in death, debilitation or poor recovery.

“I would certainly say that this is a success story for the AFG Grant Program,” said Mr. Rice. “Thank you for providing this funding to purchase this life saving technology.”

On April 16, 2008, one of the volunteers at the administrative building was not feeling well. When the Deputy Fire Marshall, Ken Rice, checked on his condition, he noticed that the individual was having difficulty breathing and had a rapid pulse. He summoned one of the paramedic units to the building to assess the volunteer’s condition. Utilizing one of the recently acquired 12-lead monitors, they discovered that the individual was having cardiac problems. When the individual was taken to the hospital, they discovered that he had a 90% blockage of the “widow maker” artery. After speaking to the medics, Mr. Rice learned that the problem could not have been identified with one of the old 3-lead monitors. Thanks to the new 12-lead monitor, the cardiac problem was identified early, and the treatment commenced immediately. This individual could have died if not for the new monitor.

“I would certainly say that this is a success story for the AFG Grant Program,” said Mr. Rice. “Thank you for providing this funding to purchase this life saving technology.”