Darryl Price is alive today because of a partnership between the Detroit Fire Department and SJH&MC. Click here to see a video of this story.
When a patient has a heart attack, minutes can make a huge difference in the patient’s chances of survival...and a full recovery.
Detroit resident Darryl Price knows the benefits of the 12-lead EKG technology first-hand. In summer 2008, while cutting his lawn, Darryl had a heart attack. He was one of the first to benefit from the Detroit Fire Department's use of 12-lead EKGs in the field. Today, Darryl is a healthier individual who strongly advocates proper diet and exercise to family and friends (see video to your right).
Darryl benefitted from work started in 2006, when a team led by Kim Lagerquist, RN, and EMS Coordinator for St. John Hospital and Medical Center (SJH&MC); and Sam Dabaja, RN, Cardiac Catheterization Lab, SJH&MC, implemented a program that links EMS providers with Emergency Center physicians through a cell phone connection that transmits 12-lead electrocardiogram (EKG) results.
From the scene, the EKG results can be transmitted to the hospital, where the patient can be diagnosed before they even leave their living room. Data also can be sent directly to the handheld devices of cardiologists, providing physicians with real-time data to diagnose a heart attack. This allows patients to go to the Cardiac Catheterization Lab for life-saving treatment 20 to 35 minutes faster than the previous process.
"Time is crucial when it comes to treating a heart attack patient; every minute counts. Time is muscle , and time saves lives,” explains Kim. “This program definitely improves the odds of surviving a heart attack."
On average, a person waits 52 minutes before calling 911 when they suspect a heart attack.
Kim and Sam have trained approximately 1500 cath lab associates and EMS personnel on 12-lead EKG technology. In addition, Sam has offered numerous education sessions to community groups regarding the importance of calling 911 quickly upon the first signs of a heart attack.
Once a patient arrives at the hospital, they can rapidly pass through the Emergency Center to ensure stability, they go straight to the cath lab, where the blocked vessel can be opened with angioplasty and perhaps a stent. Cardiology Services at SJH&MC recently received their sixth designation as a Top 100 hospital.
The bottom line is that the sooner we open the vessel, the less permanent damage to the heart," said Tom LaLonde, MD, Chief of Cardiovascular Services at SJH&MC. "The American College of Cardiology sets a recommendation of 90 minutes from occlusion to re-perfusion, and the way to achieve and surpass that is to get an EKG in the field.
Know the signs and symptoms of a heart attack
by Margarita Pena, MD, Emergency Medicine physician and Medical Director of the Clinical Decision Unit at St. John Hospital and Medical Center
Conditions that put you at risk for heart disease include diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, smoking, a family history of heart disease, and obesity.
You may not have the classic symptoms of chest pain or pressure radiating to the left arm with sweating. Women, those with diabetes, and the elderly may present with no chest pain but have other atypical symptoms such as arm or jaw pain, abdominal discomfort or fullness, nausea, shortness of breath, fatigue, dizziness or palpitations.
At SJH&MC's Emergency Center, all patients who arrive with these symptoms receive an EKG immediately upon arrival. The EKG is directly given to an emergency medicine physician who determines if you are actively having a heart attack and can immediately mobilize the catheterization team with a single phone call. Of course, those arriving by ambulance may have already had the 12-lead EKG performed by our pre-hospital partners (EMS personnel).
