Thanks to a $15,900 grant from Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative and the Lower Colorado River Authority, Bastrop County First Responders will purchase two new heart monitors to improve emergency care for cardiac patients.

The Community Development Partnership Program grant will allow the nonprofit organization to replace cardiac monitors that were recently de-certified for use under new federal guidelines. The new monitors will be able to diagnose symptoms of a heart attack; act as defibrillators; track and adjust a patient’s heart rhythm; and perform 12-lead electrocardiogram tests.

Bastrop County First Responders, a nonprofit organization whose members include paramedics and emergency medical technicians, is contributing $4,000 in matching funds toward the purchase.

“These monitors are required for us to provide advanced life support,” said James Green, president of Bastrop County First Responders. “With these, we can utilize our paramedics to their full potential, and they can provide more medicines and more therapies to patients.”

Green said Bastrop County First Responders frequently provides stand-by emergency service at public events across the county, including rodeos and car shows. The group’s paramedics and EMTs respond to calls in their personal vehicles.

“We’re kind of like a volunteer fire department, but it’s just for EMS,” Green said. “We’re available to provide more hands if needed.”

The de-certification of his organization’s older heart monitors came as an “unbudgeted surprise,” Green said. “We had pretty late notice that this was happening, and we were behind the eight ball. Without this grant, we’d really be up the creek without a paddle right now.”

The community grant is one of six grants being awarded by Bluebonnet and the LCRA through LCRA’s Community Development Partnership Program, which helps volunteer fire departments, local governments, emergency responders and nonprofit organizations fund capital improvement projects in LCRA’s wholesale electric, water and transmission service areas. The program is part of LCRA’s effort to give back to the communities it serves. Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative is one of LCRA’s wholesale electric customers and is a partner in the grant program.

Applications for the next round of grants will be accepted in July. More information is available here.