Wednesday, March 6, 2002
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Wednesday, March 6, 2002 |
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Fayette EMTs have new help for heart attack victims By JOHN
MUNFORD
Fayette County has just become a better place to have a heart attack. County Emergency Medical Technicians now have the capability under strict supervision of an emergency room doctor at Fayette Community Hospital to administer "clot-busting" medication in the field to reverse heart attacks. This cutting-edge development allows patients to have quicker recovery times and shorten their expected rehabilitation time to rebuild damaged heart muscle, according to hospital officials. Since the program was implemented, two patients have received doses of the drug from local EMTs once physicians have determined the medicine is necessary. "We try to get the drug in as quickly as we can get it in," said emergency room Dr. James Robertson, who devised the program with cardiologist Dr. Nimish Dhruva. The medicine, called Retavase, acts quickly to dissolve blood clots in arteries that cause heart attacks. But the use of Retavase by EMTs is closely monitored by physicians at the hospital's emergency room using the patient's vital signs, medical history and readings from electrocardiograms that are wirelessly transmitted to the hospital "in real time" by medics. "Each case is taken on an individual basis," Robertson said. "The final decision to give the drug is left up to the doctor in the emergency room after he reviews the information he has." Ryan Duffy of Fayette Community Hospital pointed out that it took intensive training for the EMTs to get up to speed on the program, and hospital officials and physicians felt comfortable that training took hold. Robertson said physicians have confidence in the capability of the local emergency medical service. Fayette County deputy Chief Allen McCullough said the program helps the department "take 21st century medicine to the streets. "The key to success of this program has been the dedicated EMTs and paramedics of Fayette County," McCullough said. "I am very proud of each and every one of them and rest comfortably every night knowing that my family is protected under their watchful eye." The Retavase is being supplied free of charge to the program by its manufacturer, Centocor, as part of a trial program.
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