She had a severe blood clot, and her heart stopped beating.

"I had no pulse so they started doing compressions," Hardesty said.

Paramedics from Sacramento Metro Fire went to work, along with a new contraption -- The Lucas Device.

"It essentially does chest compressions, non-stop, without interruption, doesn't get tired or fatigued like a human would, and it has better quality of compression," EMS Captain Jonpaul Seivane of Metro Fire said.

The ambulance that came to Hardesty's home carried one of only three Lucas devices in Sacramento County.

"I was one of the first one they used it on. A first for me," Hardesty said.

The CPR device can be used on patients pretty much anywhere. It doesn’t matter whether they are on the floor, a staircase or on a rolling gurney.

The department knew that these devices were extremely helpful and had the potential to save thousands of lives. The only problem was, that each device costs $15,000. That is when their Grants division stepped in.

“Some of them (firefighter manuals) can be several hundred dollars apiece and the manikins themselves are quite expensive, so trying to pull that out of our normal operating budget is pretty difficult to do,” Lamar said.

Missouri American Water awarded about 24 grants to fire departments across the state this year. Jody Carlson, senior manager for field services and production at Missouri American Water Northwest Operations, said the water utility company works closely with fire departments in the areas it serves.

“It allows us to continue to invest in the communities,” Carlson said.

Missouri American Water started the fire department grant program in 2011. Carlson said the company did not award grants for a couple years due to budget restrictions. Fire departments typically use the funds for equipment and training materials, Carlson said.

This is the second time the St. Joseph Fire Department has received this particular grant. Carlson and a few members of the St. Joseph Fire Department gathered on Wednesday to celebrate the grant and share what materials the department would be purchasing with the funds.

Lamar said the CPR certification materials are an important purchase for the department right now. Firefighters are required to renew their CPR certification every two years, and all firefighters are due to update their certifications this year.

“The CPR is mandated. We use that on a daily basis. We have to keep all of our members up to date,” Lamar said. “The firefighter materials, obviously anything that has changed in the firefighter world, that comes out in the manuals.”

The ambulance was en route to a hospital with a patient when it collided with a dark-colored sedan, they said. The sedan was heavily damaged, and the ambulance sustained significant front-end damage. The other five vehicles involved in the crash had minor damage.

Lansing police Sgt. Jeromy Churchill said most of the injuries were minor, and none was believed to be life-threatening.

In a news release, Lansing police spokesman Robert Merrit said six people were taken to area hospitals, including the two fire department medics.

Witnesses said the ambulance was northbound when it collided with a westbound car. Churchill said he did not know how the crash happened.

The AVFD took delivery of its new Engine 11 in June and has been working to prepare Company 4 to become its permanent home. In July, the AVFD put the new E11 into service and took the old E11 offline. E11's first assignment was a 12-hour overnight standby shift with a crew of AVFD volunteers covering East Granby as that community began the healing process after the tragic loss of its Chief Peter Ahlstrin.

"It's been about 15 years since we replaced fire engines in town," says AVFD Chief Michael Trick. "Engines 10 and 14 and Ladder 12 are the newest vehicles in our fleet - and they all arrived in 2001."

The cab and chassis of the new E11 were commissioned to the AVFD's specifications from Michigan-based Spartan. The vehicle's body was custom built by Gowans-Knight in Watertown, Connecticut. Custom reflective tape applications were designed and donated by Orafol whose Reflective Solutions Division (formerly Reflexite Corporation) is headquartered in Avon, Connecticut.

Engine 11 carries 750 gallons of water (250 gallons more than its predecessor), and has an enclosed cab, a more powerful engine, state-of-the-art safety systems including cameras on all sides of the vehicle, airbags in the cab, and a seat belt monitoring system to alert the driver to crew members not buckled up.

Currently in production at Gowans-Knight is another new engine for the AVFD. Being built on an identical cab and chassis to E11, it will replace the AVFD's almost 30-year-old Engine 7.