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St. Johns = County=20 firefighter Sean Vitori demonstrates a cardiac monitor = attached to a cell phone in the back of a county = ambulance on=20 Tuesday. The cell phone allows paramedics to transmit = patient=20 date directly to doctors reroute to the hospital. by = PETER=20 WILLOTT, peter.willott@staugustine.com

Flagler = Hospital registered=20 nurse Amy Wenell pulls an electrocardiogram from a = printer in=20 the Emergency Department after it was transmitted from = a=20 patient in a county ambulance. The hospital has just = installed=20 the $40,000 system called LifeNet EKG. by PETER = WILLOTT,=20 peter.willott@staugustine.com

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If someone is having a heart attack, call St. Johns = County=20 Fire-Rescue.

Don't put them in a car and drive to Flagler Hospital. In = that=20 time, the heart could lose critical muscle.

Fire-Rescue paramedics and Flagler Hospital officials = said=20 Tuesday that they have implemented the LifeNet EKG receiving = station=20 to allow early evaluation and prompt treatment for = critically ill=20 patients.

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Flagler spokesman Peter Bacon said the hospital is the = first one=20 in Northeast Florida to use LifeNet.

"It enhances the trauma capability for the residents of = St. Johns=20 County," Bacon said.

Essentially, patients with symptoms that may be heart = attacks are=20 hooked to a transportable 12-lead EKG that provides both an=20 electronic and a printed version of that person's cardiac = wave.

With LifeNet, those signals are sent by cell phone to the = Flagler=20 emergency department. If the ER doctor there sees signs of a = heart=20 attack, he scrambles the cardiac lab team at the same time=20 paramedics bring the patient there.

Jeremy Robshaw, spokesman for Fire-Rescue, said = paramedics were=20 already using the EKG, "But there just wasn't a hospital = that had a=20 receiving station."

He estimated that perhaps 8,000 patients will get EKGs = out of the=20 16,000 emergency medical calls per year made by = Fire-Rescue.

Bacon said Flagler bought the $40,000 receiver and = organized its=20 cardiac trauma team to respond instantly. It won't make the = hospital=20 any more money, just give patients better care, he said.

"This is one step to really help Fire-Rescue and Flagler = Hospital=20 to better orchestrate when it comes to patient care," he = said.

Hospital personnel said the federal standard response = time is 90=20 minutes to get a balloon into the heart and open up a closed = vessel.=20 However, doctors have from 30 minutes to three hours to = accomplish=20 that before heart muscle begins to die.

"Once it's gone, it's gone," one doctor said. "The sooner = the=20 blockage is cleared, the more muscle is saved."

Dr. Howard A. Baker, a cardiologist with St. Johns = Cardiovascular=20 on South Park Boulevard, said the 90-minute standard is too=20 long.

"The average transit time to the hospital is 20 to 30 = minutes,"=20 Baker said. "That's significant time and muscle. This = changes the=20 way we think about this."

With LifeNet, patients skip the ER and go directly to a = cath lab,=20 knocking off 30 minutes from the time they must wait for=20 treatment.

"As the patient is arriving, the team is arriving," Baker = said.

The vast majority of heart attacks are caused by plaque = tearing=20 off the interior walls of arteries -- which are not smooth = but woven=20 like a fabric -- and blocking its flow. The heart muscles = are then=20 starved for oxygen-carrying blood.

Some countries use clot-dissolving drugs, which is not = the case=20 in the United States right now, Baker said. Those drugs can = cause=20 bleeding in other areas.

"You're better off with a balloon," he said.

The balloons are on the end of catheters inserted in a = leg or arm=20 and carefully maneuvered into place by a physician. The = balloon is=20 inflated to push back the collapsing walls of plaque and = re-open the=20 vessel.

"This procedure really does give us a chance (to save = more=20 lives)," Baker said.

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