Program trains paramedics to diagnose heart ailments

LEWISTON – Ambulance paramedics based in Lewiston are receiving training to determine if heart patients need emergency angioplasty, a technique that uses a tiny balloon to open a clogged blood vessel.

The Central Maine Medical Center training program could result in patients in that area getting faster and more effective emergency treatment, hospital officials said last week.

“The longer a patient waits, the more heart muscle can die,” said Dr. William Phillips, director of diagnostic and interventional cardiology. “In this business, time means muscle.”

The angioplasty decision hinges on the reading of a 12-lead electrocardiogram, a machine-generated picture of the heart’s electrical current at 12 different sites.

Many public and private ambulances in Maine are equipped with ECG technology, but not all paramedics are trained to read the results.

With preparation, paramedics can interpret the ECG on the way to the hospital and give emergency department staff the information they need to start treatment as soon as the patient arrives. The final treatment decision rests with the emergency room physician.

Only four hospitals in Maine can perform angioplasty – Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine Medical Center in Portland and York Hospital – but any emergency department is equipped to administer clot-busting medications to increase the likelihood of survival until the procedure can be performed.

In the Greater Bangor and Waterville areas, according to regional emergency medical services coordinator Rick Petrie, paramedics have been trained to interpret ECGs for five to 10 years.

In addition, he said, many ambulances are now equipped with a device that electronically transmits the crucial ECG data ahead to either Saint Joseph Hospital or Eastern Maine Medical Center.

The new technology has cut the average time between a patient’s arrival at the hospital to when he or she gets lifesaving treatment from close to an hour to about 19 minutes, Petrie said.

Petrie credited area hospitals with devoting time and money to getting ambulance staff trained and improving the quality of patient care.

“Everyone’s really glad United Ambulance [affiliated with CMMC] medics can do this now,” Petrie said. “This capability has put a real dent in the time it takes to get people connected with the care they need.”