With the acceptance of new CPR filtration masks recently, members of the Farmingdale Fire Department essentially joined the ranks of the state's pioneers in rescue techniques.

The department was the first one in New York to agree to begin using the devices, which provide greater than 99.99 percent protection against viruses and bacteria for both the rescuer and the patient, according to Mike Cernkovich, president and CEO of Las Vegas, NV-based Emergency Filtration Products, marketer of the product.

The start-up, publicly traded company began distributing the masks, known as RespAides, during the fall of last year, and has been endorsed by various police and fire departments around the country, Cernkovich noted. It is currently setting up distributors world-wide, and is also introducing the product to EMT units, paramedics and police departments around the country. Its goal is to gain world-wide medical acceptance of the product.

According to Cernkovich, the heart of the device lies in a patented vapor isolation valve, which separates moisture and particles from exhaled breath in both directions. In addition, a silicone "duckbill" valve closes automatically when the patient exhales to prevent any back-flow of breath or clogging of the system if the patient regurgitates.

"We truly are the best CPR mask in the industry - bar none. The reason for that is our filter and the way it takes the moisture out of the air in order to provide sterile breath from the rescuer to the patient - which means no bacterial or viral pathogens will get to the patient from the rescuer," Cernkovich said this week.

"On the other hand, on the way back, the filter is designed so that any of the exhalation, whether it be vomit or breath, or water or blood, or whatever, that comes back to the rescuer from the patient will not reach the rescuer. So what it truly does is protect both people from the spread of contaminants throughout the process of CPR, and no other CPR mask can do that."

After being filtered, the patient's exhaled breath is then diverted through extra large exhalation ports down and away from the care giver, according to the company.

Both Cernkovich and Doug Beplate, inventor and director of research and development for the company, donated 50 RespAides to the Farmingdale Fire Department at a May 14 ceremony at the Farmingdale Firehouse. In addition to leaders of the department, local dignitaries and other surrounding department representatives attended the presentation.

"It's a confidence builder. You don't have to think twice now to give CPR to anybody, because it's a safeguard. You don't have to worry about transmitting any germs or getting any germs. I know the members love it, because it's so compact. It comes in its own little pouch, which is great, and it's bright yellow, and everybody knows where it is. They're receptive to it," Farmingdale Fire Department Chief Donald Tortoso said this week. "It's hanging from all our trucks now. It's inside each cab of the trucks. All my chiefs have them in their cars now."

The valve is also modular for use with such compliant patient ventilation devices, as CPR masks, resuscitation bags, and endotracheal tubes. And, use of the valve in a bag/valve/mask configuration will save the Farmingdale Fire Department money, according to Chief Tortoso. That is because by filtering the air from the patient before it reaches the bag, the valve prevents contamination of the bag, therefore making its disposal unnecessary.

According to Cernkavich, statistics show that a frightening number of medical professionals refuse to render CPR due to fears of contracting deadly diseases. Both in Farmingdale, and worldwide, he believes his product will continue to ease those concerns, thereby saving lives.

"Through the Journal of Emergency Medicine and the Archives of Internal Medicine, nearly 45 percent of paramedics and EMTs would decline to give CPR to an adult stranger. In addition, 23 percent of EMTs would refuse to perform CPR on a child," he said. "Also, 45 percent of physicians, and a staggering 80 percent of all nurses, would not give CPR to an adult, and 18 to 25 percent of the same doctors and nurses would not give CPR to a child...And we've had doctors and EMTs around the country say 'I wouldn't give CPR, but with your product I do it.'"

Editor's Note: For further information about the RespAide CPR masks, one may contact Emergency Filtration Products on the Internet at www.emergencyfiltration.com or by telephone at 888-656-3697.