A new Rhode Island Department of Health protocol revision will require first responders to perform 30 minutes of CPR on a patient when they arrive at a scene, say Warwick Fire and EMS chiefs, and the fire department is getting ahead of schedule in letting people know so that there are no surprises.

“Don’t be surprised if you call for someone who is unconscious and not breathing if the fire department gets there and starts to work on them,” Warwick Fire Chief James McLaughlin said last week. “They may be there for a little while, and that’s the best thing for that person.”

The protocol revision does not take effect until March 1, but the Warwick Fire Department and others have already begun, said Chief of Emergency Medical Services Jason Umbenhauer. He and McLaughlin said they’re already seeing that it’s is the best thing for patients.

“They’ve been doing great with their outcomes. Some [departments] have tripled, quadrupled some of their survival rates,” he said. “We want to let people know that the best chance of survival for that person in cardiac arrest is doing the CPR right there at that time and not moving them. We are fully ACLS [Advanced Cardiac Life Support] qualified and use the same procedures, guidelines and equipment as the hospital.”

Both chiefs say their research, studies and eyewitness accounts endorse the protocol revision. Additionally, the American Heart Association had recommended a measure like it in 2010 and emphasized that CPR is often the most important thing to save a life, they said.

“You don’t feel rushed, which is nice. You get to slow it down for a minute and think and break it down as opposed to ‘we gotta go,’ which we used to do,” said Lieutenant Henrik Dunlaevy, who said he got a pulse back in less than 30 minutes on the people he performed CPR on since the fire department took the initiative to start following the guidelines early.

Some reservations were raised about 30 minutes of CPR; two minutes of CPR is the most a single person can typically perform without a break, said Umbenhauer. But this issue will be resolved by adding one extra truck to any runs that are confirmed CPR cases.

In addition, witnesses were thought to be an issue; Umbenhauer said the process once had to be performed in the middle of airport baggage claim. But no complaints have been made yet, he said. The only remark they heard was from a family member who sent a letter thanking them profusely for saving their loved one’s life, he said.

The protocol revision has two exceptions for trauma and safety. If a person has experienced a traumatic injury, only a trauma surgeon can help them, said Umbenhauer. And if they are in a situation that is unsafe, such as in the middle of the highway after an accident, they are not required to perform the CPR.

McLaughlin and Umbenhauer said there are still “tweaks” to be made and research to be done (and police officers will need to be briefed on the protocol revision), but that the key is ensuring that people in need receive high quality, uninterrupted CPR.

The protocol revision is relevant as the vast majority of runs are EMS related, Umbenhauer and McLaughlin said. Of last year’s 16,000 runs, they estimated 12,000 of them were CPR related. They added that everybody in the WFD has an EMS license.

McLaughlin was not only confident in the benefits of the new protocol revision but of his employees to fulfill it as well.

“Warwick Fire EMS Division is probably the best EMS division not only in Rhode Island but in New England,” he said.

The Rhode Island Department of Health could not be reached for comment as of press time.