Amar Patel is manager of the WakeMed Medical Simulation Center.
Yesterday WakeMed Simulation Center staff and Air Mobile crew hosted a drill in Sampson County where EMS responders practiced diagnosing a STEMI (heart attack) and calling for air support.
The purpose of the drill is to ensure that first responders in Sampson County can diagnose a STEMI quickly and are able to get patients the care they need as quickly as possible. Research shows that the faster a heart attack patient gets to the cath lab where an intervention is performed to open the blocked artery, the better their chances are for survival and the better their quality of life will be after the event. The more time the heart muscle is deprived of oxygen due to a blocked artery, the more permanent damage will occur.
The article published in the Sampson Independent today sums up the drill and has some great pictures of the simulator being loaded into WakeMed Air Mobile.
Patients in Sampson County can be proud of their emergency response teams. Total time from STEMI to patient arrival by air transport to the WakeMed cath lab was 1 hour 18 minutes. Pretty impressive!
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