Naples Fire-Rescue says it needs eight new heart monitors

City of Naples Fire-Rescue Department says it needs eight new heart monitors. They said it will make sure each patient gets the same level of care from the moment crews get into the ambulance to when they leave the hospital.

Eight new heart monitors for the fire-rescue department will cost Naples taxpayers almost $250,000, and the department said its crucial to have them.

“Having a tool like this is invaluable,” Fire Chief Pete DiMaria said. “We have to have it.”

Heart monitors are used on almost every call for emergency situations.

“It’s a multipurpose tool used by our EMTs and paramedics,” DiMaria said. “It takes care of basic life support, vital signs, oxygen, pulse, blood pressure.”

The new heart monitors would also be less cumbersome to members of the department. The new monitors are half the size and weight of current ones. They are also higher tech, with the ability to document and send information to the hospital.

“Better care and also the same level of care across the board from beginning to end,” Lieutenant Erick Baltodano said.

The heart monitors Naples fire-rescue hopes to obtain are models currently in use by Collier County EMS.

“What we start treating in the field, we want to continue that treatment all the way through transport and turning over the patient to the emergency rooms,” DiMaria said.

Naples City Council will discuss buying the heart monitors at its scheduled meeting Wednesday, May 1.

“Everybody is going to be familiar with it and will be able to perform without even missing a beat,” Baltodano said.