For the second time in five months, the Alpharetta City Council has authorized the purchase of new, advanced heart monitors and associated equipment – this time, from a different manufacturer, after the city’s first choice failed to make timely delivery of the units.
The Council accepted Physio-Control Inc.’s $372,114 price for nine “LifePak 15” heart monitors for the city’s Fire & Emergency Services to replace units purchased in 2008 and at the end of their useful lives. The purchase will be financed by a BB&T capital lease with a five-year term and a 1.93 percent fixed interest rate.
Last October, the city approved acquiring nine “HeartStart” monitors from the manufacturer rated first by a Public Safety Department panel of paramedics, Philips, at a cost of $247,304. Since then, however, Philips experienced technology “supply chain disruptions” and could not ship the devices in an acceptable time period, staff said.
One advantage of going with the panel’s second choice, Physio-Control, is that its devices also are used by the city’s ambulance provider, AMR, as well as the Roswell, Milton and Sandy Springs fire departments, “a huge asset as we frequently provide mutual aid with those departments,” staff said.
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