LUCAS 2Manpower is stretched pretty thin when it comes to medical personnel in the field. Having an extra pair of hands perform CPR for you can mean the difference between life & death. Swedish company Jolife AB, has just  realesed the LUCAS 2, a chest compressor for use by paramedics and other field medics. It does just one thing, the simple task of pumping the chest. Which in turn allows the paramedic to continue with other life-saving measures. Unlike its predecessor, LUCAS 1 which is still available ran on compressed air, LUCAS 2 runs on battery power. It can run for up to 45 minutes on a single charge. In May of 2009 it was approved for use in Europe and Canada, and it should be available in the US by the third quarter this year.

[via Jolife]