Successes are higher in Cardiac Arrest and Heart Attack
(Evansville, Indiana) — Throughout the United States, persons fall victim to heart attacks and sudden cardiac arrests every day. The Emergency Medical Services system is there to care for and help provide better outcomes for those individuals who suffer these events. In Evansville, the fire department first responders and American Medical Response have focused on improving the outcomes of our patients. Two of the most time critical, life threatening conditions are heart attacks and cardiac arrest.
In May, American Medical Response and the Evansville Fire Department received word that the community’s cardiac arrest outcomes during 2014 exceeded the national aggregate by a significant amount. The numbers, reported by the CARES (The Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival) program, a national cardiac arrest measurement group supported by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Emory University, showed a drastic difference in outcomes for Evansville and Vanderburgh County when compared to national averages. Bystander CPR is the first link in the chain of survival. The  quality CPR and basic life support care provided by the Evansville Fire Department and surrounding Vanderburgh County fire departments coupled with the Emergency Medical Dispatch instructions for callers to 911 and the paramedic care provided by AMR has resulted in a higher success rate.
Below is a summary of these important numbers:
- Bystander CPR: National – 40.4%, Evansville – 43.8%
- Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) applied prior to EMS arrival: National – 27.1%, Evansville – 52.6%
- First Responder Defibrillation: National – 6.1%, Evansville – 13.0%
- ROSC (Return of a pulse by EMS): National – 32.2%, Evansville – 35.4%
- Survival to discharge from Hospital: National – 10.8%, Evansville – 14.6%
- Utstein Survival (presumed cardiac nature): National: 32.5%, Evansville – 47.6%
In addition to exceptional care provided for cardiac arrest, AMR was recognized in May as a Gold level provider in the American Heart Association’s Mission Lifeline program. The program focuses on the application of 12-lead electrocardiograms in the prehospital setting and the relay of that information to the receiving hospital for the purpose of decreasing time to critical interventions in the cardiac catheterization lab. AMR was one of only three Indiana EMS providers recognized this year by the AHA.
Survival to Discharge from Hospital only 14%. So most of the people who get CPR and or other care don’t make it out of the hospital? So how much do all these people’s family own the AMR, Hospital, Doctors and other care people for their services. You know this stuff is not free and it’s very expensive. They sort of have you over a barrel when you are suffering and in pain and they know you will do almost anything to make the pain go away. So they can charge what ever they feel like. $25,000 just for a heart surgeon to repair your heat. $800 for a 6 mile trip to the hospital with a paramedic on board the ambulance. $400 for the pathologist to read your blood tests. Thosuands of dollars for the operating room -charge to you by the hospital. $ for the oxygen and tubes they use to provide you with Oxygen. Every needle or supply that’s used is charged to your account. The hospital room costs hundreds of dollars a night. Food is about the lest expensive thing at the Hospital. In a month you can run up a $300,000 bill easily. And there are multiple doctors that see you with each charging your account and or billing you separately.
Still if you are one of the 14% of those that walk out of the hospital alive at the end of your stay then you are one of the lucky ones. Let’s just hope you have Obama Care and or some form of good insurance that will help pay all the bills. If not then maybe you would have been better off dying. Can they charge your costs to your significant others? All I can tell you is that you better have some damn good health insurance if you fall ill and suffer a heart attack as if the heart attack doesn’t kill you .. trying to pay off the Health Care Bills will drive you to depression.
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