STEMI PROGRAM IS SAVING LIVES

Dr. J. Jeffrey Marshall of the Northeast Georgia Heart Center presented “Heart Truth: Learning More About Heart Disease”

TOCCOA, GA - The way Stephens County EMS and Stephens County Hospital respond to possible heart attack victims is changing due to a new program that addresses the STEMI patient. STEMI - which stands for ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction - is the most dangerous type of heart attack and involves a sudden blockage of one of the three coronary arteries that supplies blood to the heart. Without blood, the heart muscle will die.

On May 1st, the STEMI program began in Stephens County. The

program represents a complex but finely coordinated team effort between the EMS, Stephens County Hospital’s Emergency Room and the Cardiac Cath Lab at Northeast Georgia Medical Center. “We’re in this to save lives and getting the right treatment quickly is critical in saving a STEMI patient”, says EMS Director Ray Willis. “We know that time is muscle in a heart attack and the quicker we get the artery open, the better the outcome for the patient. The treatment begins in the field, not in the emergency room, and that saves time.”
Dr. J. Jeffrey Marshall, M.D., F.A.C.C. is an interventional cardiologist and the medical director of the cardiac cath lab at Northeast Georgia Medical Center. “New national guidelines call for getting blocked (blood) vessels open within 90 minutes of arrival at the hospital. When the patient is taken to a smaller hospital first, we lose 30 minutes while they're in transit here, so we want our team ready when the patient arrives. We're trying to reduce our 'door-to-balloon' time to under an hour," said Marshall.

The treatment of recent STEMI patients proves the program is a success. In both cases, the patients were in the cath lab and the vessels of their hearts’ were opened up within 57 minutes. “We pick up the patient, hook up the EKG and transmit it to Stephens County Hospital ER and to the cath lab at Northeast Georgia Medical Center. If the patients’ EKG shows ST elevation, we transport the patient directly to the cath lab in Gainesville– bypassing the ER here and in Gainesville – and their team is in the cath lab, waiting on us. The paramedics assist with getting the patient on the exam table and in one case, the procedure is complete and the patient was awake, talking and feeling much better before the paramedics finished their paperwork”, adds Willis.

During the heart disease seminar held last week in Toccoa, Dr. Marshall spoke to the signs, symptoms and risk factors of heart disease. He also discussed the treatment options for cardiovascular disease and answered questions from the audience. As a reminder, Dr. Marshall repeats the message of calling 911. “Don’t drive to Gainesville –or Stephens County Hospital - with chest pain, call 911 and let the paramedics start treatment in the ambulance.”