BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) – When a call comes in from outside the hospital for cardiac arrest, it’s a team effort to get the patient the proper care.
“The survival-to-discharge rate is only 9.1 percent,” LewisGale’s EMS Liaison Kellie Lavine said. “For ones that have good functional outcomes after that, that drops down to 7.1 percent.”
That’s why LewisGale says saving these three patients is worthy of praise.
In each case, there were 100% coronary artery blockages.
“These patients were more than lucky they were in good hands and really, EMS made the difference,” LewisGale Montgomery’s Director of Cardiology and Cardiologist Dr. John Patterson said.
“It just goes to show all the hard work that’s been put into this, the patient care that’s being provided from the 911 center, the steps and the instruction they’re giving before we get there, the patient care that we’re providing on scene, and then on the back end of it is when they get to the hospital and the successful outcomes the hospital is providing on their end,” Chief of Montgomery County Fire and EMS Michael Geary said.
Patterson says without EMS, the chances of survival from a heart attack drop significantly.
“The EMS community provides such an important role here and saving lives is what they do every day,” he said. “We’re dealing with the sickest of sick dealing with a heart attack patient; minutes count. Every minute is muscle that dies.”
“Our folks are not the ones who usually like the limelight, but even on the back end of things to be recognized by the hospital, by their peers, it means a lot to them,” Geary said.
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