MetroAtlanta Ambulance Service officials have been working with Mayor Tommy Allegood and other City of Acworth leaders to enhance the chance of survival should an acute cardiac emergency occur while in the city. The company donated six new automatic external defibrillators (AED) to the city to be placed in public buildings, city parks and other places where residents may gather. MetroAtlanta Ambulance and Acworth Police have also been hosting community CPR Training classes for city staff employees and local community residents.
Metro Atlanta Ambulance President/CEO Pete Quinones stated, “It is one of our strategic goals to enhance the survival rate of those suffering a cardiac emergency in our community and the best way to do that is to have knowledgeable bystanders take immediate action and begin CPR and apply the AED the moment they see someone go down. In order to do that AED’s have to be readily available and we are happy to supplement what the city already has in place.”
Statistics show that a patient receiving immediate CPR/AED treatment prior to EMS arrival has a greater chance of survival. MetroAtlanta is so strongly committed to this that they established a non-profit foundation to help fund CPR education and training for every 8th grade student in the Cobb County and Marietta City School System. The company is currently working with school officials to put a program in place. Quinones stated, “We want every child to know when and how to perform CPR and use an AED because we know it is going to increase the rates of survival of patients experiencing acute cardiac events in our community.”
In late 2011, MetroAtlanta invested in the LUCAS Chest Compression Systems which performs perfect CPR and placed them on all their ambulance units in Cobb. The company has also worked closely with WellStar Health System to develop a pathway allowing EMS crews to bypass the Emergency department and move patients, suffering chest pain due to a blockage in the artery, straight from the ambulance into the cardiac cathertization lab where corrective action can immediately be taken. The partnership has become a model system for the rest of the nation and the process is not only saving lives but is enhancing the quality of life a patient enjoys once leaving the hospital.
The American Heart Association states that every 26 seconds an American has a coronary incident and every 60 seconds some dies from one. The use of an AED – a small, portable device that sends an electric shock to the heart and restores a patient’s heart rhythm to normal levels- greatly increases the chance of survival.
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