Ambulance technology improves odds for Georgetown patients

Heart attack patients in Georgetown County may now have a better chance of survival, thanks to new technology that connects responding ambulances and waiting doctors and nurses at the hospital.

Each county ambulance is already outfitted with a 12-lead electrocardiogram, which can provide important data when it comes to diagnosing and treating possible heart-related traumas. That data is now transmitted from the approaching ambulance to the hospital, and doctors and nurses are on stand-by to treat the patient once he or she arrives.

“We have that information before they even arrive to the emergency department,“ said Dr. Matt Stover, who works in the emergency department at Georgetown Memorial Hospital. “Basically, it cuts down on the time it takes to get (the patient) deifinitive care for their heart attack.“

Cardiologists are also standing by in the hospital’s catheretization lab, ready to administer care, and the time it takes to get the patient from arrival to the procedure, like an angioplasty—called “door-to-balloon time,“ is now greatly reduced.

“Our door-to-balloon times were 112 minutes,“ said Dr. Victor Diaz-Gonzalez. “After the inception of thie program, we’ve reduced that to a mean door-to-balloon time of 62 minutes,“ he said.

That is time that is critical in the event of heart-related trauma.

“For every minute that you’re having a heart attack, and you have an occluded artery, muscle is dying,“ said Dr. Diaz-Gonzalez. “You’re eventual remaining pumping function after survival will be lower.“

The equipment to enhance the 12-lead electrocardiogram machines comes in large part thanks to money raised by the Georgetown Hospital System’s Women’s Board.