Heart attack help: Thanks to device, hospitals get head start

By Scott Shenk

Published: July 5, 2008

On a recent call, Charlottesville-Albemarle Rescue Squad medics were met with a 42-year-old man whose condition was deteriorating before their eyes.

The man had “developed the classic symptoms,” said Anthony Judkins, a volunteer medic and training officer with CARS. “We saw that he was having a heart attack in front of us.”

The medics hooked up the man to a portable 12-lead electrocardiogram monitor and dialed a pre-programmed number to Martha Jefferson Hospital. The monitor, which is connected to a cell phone, sent data on the man’s heart to doctors, who were able to study it and prepare in advance of the patient’s arrival.

When they arrived at the hospital, doctors took the man straight in for treatment, Judkins said.

CARS bought 12 of the portable monitors (at $25,000 apiece) three years ago and served as a “beta test site,” according to Dr. William Brady, the company’s medical director and professor of emergency medicine at the University of Virginia.

Before CARS got the portable monitors, EMTs had to hook up cardiac patients and call in ECG results.

“Sometimes the doctor doesn’t trust you,” said Judkins, also a career EMT in Madison County. Often patients had to have tests done at the hospital before going in for treatment.

“That’s precious time lost,” Judkins said. “We use a cliché [regarding heart attacks]: Time is muscle.”

A heart attack happens when blood flow to a section of the heart becomes blocked. If it isn’t restored within a few minutes, the muscle can suffer permanent damage and die, which can lead to a patient’s death.

Heart attacks are a major killer in the United States. According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, 1.1 million people in the U.S. suffer heart attacks each year, and almost half of them die. And of those who die, about half of them do so within an hour of the first symptom.

The devices are a “very clear benefit” for treating heart attack patients, Brady said, noting that studies show pre-notification can reduce preparation time by 30 minutes. Patients “spend much less time in the ER.”

Running the ECG device, a medic can send information in about three minutes,” he said.

The device also “really helps you sort out” patients who are having heart attacks from those who aren’t, Brady said.

In 2007, CARS responded to 135 reports of cardiac arrest and 1,145 calls for chest pain, according to the company’s annual report.

At least two other county companies use the devices — the Albemarle County Department of Fire Rescue and Western Albemarle Rescue Squad, Brady said.

“But the typical station doesn’t use them,” he said. A big reason is the cost.

One drawback of the monitors is something many cell phone users can attest to — lack of coverage in certain areas of Albemarle.

Nevertheless, Judkins said that in such cases they can still take a reading, wait for a signal and send data while en route to the hospital.

His Madison rescue company doesn’t have the devices. Though cell phone coverage is not good in the county, he said he’s pushing to get the devices.

He can hardly do without the ECG monitors when he’s on at CARS.

“There are a couple things I have to have on the truck,” he said, “and that’s one of them.”