Coventry’s Town Council voted to use opioid‑settlement money to buy new cardiac monitors for the town’s four fire districts.

Chief Poppins, speaking for the districts, asked the council for $282,345.01 to purchase Lifepak 35 monitor‑defibrillators, telling the council the current equipment is “outdated technology that is nearing the end of its life.” He said the devices both resuscitate overdose victims and monitor respiratory depression, a leading cause of death in opioid overdoses. “This equipment helps to rescue them and resuscitate them if they’re overdosed and they’re unresponsive,” he said.

The town manager told the council the purchase is a proper use of the opioid settlement funds and that about $114,000 would remain in that fund after the acquisition. Council members asked practical questions about interoperability and costs: the chief said standardizing equipment across the four districts would allow responders to share consumables and improve efficiency in time‑sensitive emergencies, and he estimated the typical usable life of the monitors at roughly 10–12 years.

Vice President Brown underscored the operational need, noting the town’s workload: “the town had does 7,200 fire and EMS calls. Of that total, 82% of them are EMS calls. And of that, the majority of them are ALS where this equipment will be used,” he said, arguing that monitors would be used frequently and benefit the community’s emergency response capability.

After a brief procedural review and a technical correction to the draft resolution’s language, council members voted to approve resolution 20 25 1 21 authorizing the purchase. The motion carried by voice vote.