There are many success stories of survival from heart attacks, strokes, accidents, near drownings and cardiac arrests in our community. Here are just two …
Local Kids Join Chain of Survival to Save Dad
Reprinted from the Fall 2013 edition of The Pulse
A 53 year-old man is alive today because the links in the chain of survival included well-trained and equipped people — some of whom were his own family members — who came together to give him his best chance. A recent study of data submitted to a national registry shows that this kind of success is more common in Kitsap County than in other areas of the United States.
The term “chain of survival” describes the collection of links that, when strong, provide victims of cardiac arrest with the best odds for complete recovery. It starts with an early call to 911 to responders on the way. Next is CPR to keep blood circulating, and an automated external defibrillator (AED) to shock the heart out of its lethal rhythm. Paramedics are the next link, ensuring that the patient has a good airway and delivering stabilizing drugs while transporting the patient to a hospital. The final link is hospital care where patients receive definitive treatment to correct the problem that caused the arrest.
On a sunny Sunday afternoon in late April, a teenage daughter found her father unconscious and not breathing. She screamed for help, sparking several 911 calls. The man’s step-son came running, and joined his sister at their dad’s side. The daughter knew what to do; just two weeks before, she had been practicing CPR in her 9th grade health class. Her brother had received CPR training three years ago through the school’s athletic training program. Together, the pair provided life-saving breaths and chest compressions.
Because the efforts to reach 911 were made from cell phones at a location near the water, the calls were received by towers in other counties causing as much as a five-minute delay before transfer to the local dispatch center. From there, crews from the closest fire station were dispatched. The first firefighter/EMTs arrived and, noting the high quality of the CPR provided by the siblings, asked them to continue while the team readied their equipment. The crew delivered to AED shocks to the patient and was administering a third as the paramedic unit arrived. Shortly after, the crew found that the man’s pulse had returned. Within minutes, his airway was secured with a breathing tube, he was loaded into the paramedic unit and was en route to Bremerton’s Harrison Medical Center. Just over an hour after he was discovered in cardiac arrest, the man was receiving life-saving treatment from physicians and other skilled team members at Harrison’s top-notch cardiac care facility.
He suffered no long-term deficits and walked out of the hospital just ten days after the event.
Officials point to several important lessons from this survival story:
State where you are when reporting an emergency — especially when using a cellular phone. It is common for cell signals to hit towers in nearby counties. Avoid time-consuming confusion by starting your 911 call with the name of the county and a general description of the type of emergency you’re reporting i.e., “I’m in Kitsap County and I need an ambulance.”
Learn CPR. Contact your local fire department or the American Red Cross to get class schedules.
Get close to an AED. Many schools, athletic clubs, casinos and other places where people congregate have automated external defibrillators. Every fire engine and ambulance in Kitsap County is equipped with a defibrillator.
Kitsap County’s EMS System is very good because every link — including the 911 center, bystander CPR providers, emergency responders and Harrison Medical Center — is strong.
A System That Saves Lives: One Man’s Story
Reprinted from the Fall 2014 edition of The Pulse
The story of this 53 year-old’s successful recovery from a massive heart attack clearly illustrates the importance of every element in Kitsap County’s emergency medical system.
On a spring afternoon, the active and athletic man had just returned from a visit to a climbing wall with his wife, daughter and son-in-law when he was struck by sudden and gripping pain in his left tricep. He discounted it as muscle strain until the sensation spread into his chest. The man then asked his wife to drive him to the hospital. The request was overruled by his wife and his nursing-student daughter who both insisted on a 911 call.
The call-receiver at Kitsap County Central Communications (CenCom) asked a quick series of questions to determine severity so they can send the proper resources. In this case, CenCom sent a paramedic unit which arrived at the man’s home within 7 minutes of dispatch. Crews initially didn’t find evidence of a heart problem but loaded the man into their ambulance anyway and headed to the hospital for a precautionary transport. However, just 200 feet down the driveway, the man started experiencing crushing and unbearable chest pain. The paramedic performed another quick assessment; this time, it was readily apparent that the man was suffering a potentially-lethal blockage of one or more coronary arteries. The crew turned on their lights and sirens, and notified Harrison Medical Center so personnel there could prepare to deliver treatment as soon as the ambulance arrived. While the driver sped to the hospital, the paramedic provided the man with oxygen and medications to prevent the situation from getting worse.
In less than an hour after the onset of symptoms, the man’s heart attack was stopped. He was wheeled into the Bremerton hospital’s emergency room and, minutes later, physicians had inserted a father to remove a clot obstructing nearly 100% of an artery in the man’s heart.
Most heart attacks result in irreversible damage. In this man’s case, there was none. The firefighter-paramedic on the call had been treating patients for 34 years. He credits the entire system , noting that every element — early recognition of the problem, call to 911, emergency responders, ambulance transport with treatment en route, and top-notch cardiac intervention and care at Harrison Medical Center — contributed to the man’s positive outcome.