Van Buren EMS gets $42,000
The Van Buren County Emergency Medical Service has received a $42,000 grant from the Rural Health Development Council.
According to Van Buren County Executive Kelly Dishman, the grant will be used to purchase 12-lead ECG monitors for the county’s ambulances which will allow ambulance personnel to transmit patient information to the emergency room by cell phone or fax.
The units will enable ambulance personnel to better assess if the patient is having a heart attack, by allowing them to transmit vital patient information from the on-board monitors to the hospital. Then, after assessment is made by the physician at the hospital, paramedics can start advanced treatment during transport. The ECG monitoring system will also be used as a tool to determine where a patient is taken with Cookeville Regional Medical Center being the target location in cases of a heart attack victim.
Prior to the new technology, paramedics could perform some early treatment; however, the patient would normally have to be brought to the hospital before physicians could determine the person was having a heart attack. The value of the new system is that the assessment could be made while the victim is in transport, thereby affording the patient earlier treatment.