Lincoln Fire and Rescue released its latest cardiac arrest survival statistics on Friday.
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Thanks to first responders and the community, the city of Lincoln has some of the highest cardiac arrest survival rates in the country. Lincoln Fire and Rescue released new statistics.
In 2020, LFR responded to 148 non-traumatic cardiac arrest cases (cardiac arrest caused by a medical event not due to a traumatic injury). Lincoln’s survival rate for these emergencies is 16.9% compared to the 9% national average. This means that of the 148 non-traumatic cardiac arrest cases, Lincoln affords a 7.9% higher opportunity for patients to leave the hospital to continue a normal life with little to no physical deficit.
The city of Lincoln celebrated the accomplishment on Friday.
“We are grateful and proud of the dedicated service that our city’s first responders provide to our residents,” Mayor Gaylor Baird said.
The report also shows that when a person experiences cardiac arrest in Lincoln, civilian bystanders are more likely to perform CPR until LFR arrives. Of the 148 non-traumatic cases, bystanders performed CPR 70.9 % of the time prior to LFR arrival compared to the national CPR rate of 40.2%. This resulted in a 35% survival rate compared to a national survival rate of 29.2%.
“Every success we enjoy matches the hard work of the women and men of this organization, but also the support of the people of our community,” Fire Chief Dave Engler said. “This success is just a small glimpse of the continual outcome based improvement we strive for daily.”
Lincoln Fire and Rescue has received the Mission Lifeline Award from the American Heart Association for six consecutive years.