St. John West Shore Hospital volunteer Ken Andrey of North Olmsted plays the role of a heart attack patient being treated by Westlake paramedic Shawn Goldsmith during a demonstration Jan. 10 of new EKG technology the hospital deployed among 10 area communities. (Photos by Larry Bennet)

New EKG equipment can save lives
By Kevin Kelley
Westshore
Published Jan. 17, 2007

Heart attack victims on the Westshore may get life-saving treatment all the sooner thanks to new electrocardiogram (EKG) equipment purchased by St. John West Shore Hospital.

The hospital paid for 11 new EKG machines and distributed them among paramedics in the 10 communities it serves. St. John West Shore also upgraded 11 other EKG devices already in use.

The EKG units will provide what’s known as 12-lead EKG data to a receiving station in the hospital’s emergency room. The 12-lead EKG units can provide data on what’s going on in different areas of the heart.

Emergency room personnel will receive the EKG data from a patient in the field over cell phone frequencies, allowing them to save valuable diagnosis and treatment time.

The EKG units were given to fire departments in Bay Village, Westlake, Rocky River, North Olmsted, Fairview Park, Sheffield Lake, Sheffield Village, North Royalton, Avon and Avon Lake.

Total cost of the equipment, including the receiving base station in the hospital’s emergency room, was $250,000, according to Dan Ellenberger, director of EMS services for University Hospitals Health System. Money came from St. John West Shore Hospital’s annual Festival of the Arts and the hospital’s general budget.

The whole purpose of the initiative, Ellenberger said, is to speed up the time between the patient’s arrival in the emergency room and transfer to the hospital’s cardiac catheterization lab. It’s based on the concept that “time is muscle.”

“If you’re having a heart attack, the longer you heart is without oxygen, the more damage you have to the muscle,” Ellenberger said. “If we can get you to the cath lab and open that vessel back up, then the heart re-oxyginates and you have very little damage or no damage.”

A recent study published in the Journal of Emergency Medical Services indicated that even five minutes could make a difference as to how well a patient may recover.

Kelly Provencher, RN, manager of St. John West Shore Hospital's emergency room, and Dr. Kiss examine EKG data received on the hospital's LIFENET receiving station.

Kelly Provencher, RN, manager of the emergency room at St. John West Shore Hospital, explained that the receiving station in the ER flashes red while bells sound and EKG data is printed. All this, she said, helps the hospital provide the best available care sooner.

“The earlier that we know a patient has a (myocardial infarction, or heart attack), and it’s reflected in the EKG, we can call the cath lab and they’re standing by and ready for the patient.

There a heart catheter is inserted, usually through the groin area. Dye is inserted and X-rays taken. Once doctors determine which vessel is blacked, a balloon or stint is used to open it up.

“It gives patients a better quality of life the sooner we can intervene and open up those vessels,” Provencher said. “There’s less long-term damage.”

Just about every second can matter when treating heart attacks, said Dr. Roy Seitz, director of the emergency department at St. John West Shore Hospital.

“Even though our (ambulance) transport times on the West Side are relatively short, this type of field evaluation could save us as much as 10 to 15 minutes,” Seitz said. “For some patients, that means the difference between living and dying. For others, it might mean a higher quality of life after recovery.”

St. John West Shore Hospital is the first hospital on the West Side assisting local EMS personnel to obtain equipment necessary to relay real-time 12-lead EKG data.

Westlake Fire Chief Richard Pietrick explained that the new equipment will allow paramedics and doctors to more quickly identify if a patient is having a heart attack.

“This is going to save a lot of lives,” Pietrick said.

If an individual did have a heart attack, there’s a period of only one to two hours during which medicine can be given to clear a blockage, Pietrick said. Correctly diagnosing a heart attack earlier will accelerate treatment, he said.

“There are a lot of people, especially females 40 years or older, that have no symptoms or only flu-like symptoms that are having a heart attack,” Pietrick said. “We’ll be able to identify that immediately.”