The Lehighton Ambulance Association has received a $70,455 Operations and Safety grant to purchase five automatic battery-powered chest compression devices.

State Rep. Matt Cartwright announced last week that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security awarded the ambulance association with an Assistance to Firefighters Grant. The funds will be distributed via the Federal Emergency Management Agency.The CPR devices will help first responders improve their capability when responding to emergencies of all types."I am glad that the Lehighton Ambulance Association will be able to purchase this high-priority equipment," Cartwright said, a member of the Congressional Fire Service Caucus. "I will continue to strongly support this federal program which helps to ensure the safety of our communities."Paramedic Timothy Rigotti said, "In the time it will take to read this article, three people in the United States will have suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. As Carbon County's coronary death rate stands much higher than statewide averages, one of those three individuals may be within our community.""Whether they survive will be dependent on the skills, knowledge and expertise of those emergency medical services personnel summoned to provide appropriate lifesaving care," Rigotti said. "The foundation for this 'appropriate lifesaving care' has been and will always be quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR."Rigotti said that while $70,455 is the total grant from the AFG, the ambulance is responsible for a percentage, so the total amount going toward the devices will be $77,500.