Program prvides critical care earlier - when it counts
Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare – All Saints
Patients who suffer cardiac arrest in Racine County now have a better chance of survival thanks to a program begun by Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare – All Saints. With funding from the All Saints Foundation, the All Saints Emergency Department provided local paramedics with the necessary equipment and training to begin a key life-saving treatment in the field, rather than waiting until the patient reaches the hospital.
Until this year therapeutic hypothermia, which has been shown to halt brain injury in patients who have been resuscitated from cardiac arrest, was only available in Southeast Wisconsin in some emergency rooms. But thanks to a $10,000 grant provided by the foundation, the hospital was able to provide the Racine Area EMS Group with powered coolers that will store ice packs and cold IV bags that paramedics can use to cool the body quickly.
“Studies have shown that you can halt some brain injury by inducing mild therapeutic hypothermia for 12-24 hours. Patients do much better and survive with intact neurological function,” says Dr. Rommel Bote, who developed the protocol and spent hours training paramedics in the area on the procedure.
The Racine Area EMS Group consists of the Racine Fire Department, South Shore Consolidated Fire and EMS, Caledonia Fire Department, Union Grove-Yorkville Fire Department and Raymond Fire Department.
“If it saves even one life the cost was well worth it,” said Christopher J. Krizek Executive Director of the Foundation which provided the money.