Hot Tip: Have Your Heart Attack In Seattle

I walked into the ER of the Baptist Hosptial in Prattville, Alabama a few years ago and told the gal behind the counter I was having an heart attack. She told me to fill out some forms, take a number, and they'd call me when it was my turn. Alabama's better....oh yeah...go on believing that!

cedar-sweetie: Its great that you survived your ordeals, but the situation you describe is one of the considerations of living in a rural area. Emergency medical services are not always immediately on-hand in the rural setting; that should be as much a consideration as your property taxes, education and school resources, employment opportunities, and cost of living. Rural areas and small towns often do not have the resources to staff full-time EMS; often they are staffed by basic EMT professionals or first responders only who work on a part-time or even volunteer basis and have to cover a large area within their particular rural setting. As for your other comments: often it is too late. In the medical field, this is termed futility. If a patient has had an unwitnessed arrest, no pulse, no respirations, and no heart rhythm, it is absolutely futile in almost all cases to attempt resuscitation of any kind. Even with a witnessed arrest, the odds are small that the patient can be resuscitated to prior neurological functioning. I cannot speak for you, but I do not want to be resuscitated to live in a persistently vegetative or severely neurologically impaire state; nor would I allow that for my husband, my mother, my father, or even my own children.

Sept. of 2004, I had open heart surgery, to repair a damaged heart. They did all kinds of things, including a new mechanical valve.Two weeks later, I had a heart attack.We live in a very small town, and at the local clinic we were told to wait for the ambulance, but after finding out it would take about half an hour to get there, my husband said I'm not waiting.He drove me to a town about 22 miles away, and on the way, we picked up the local police, and met the ambulance about 1/2 way there.We didn't stop, and had a caravan to the ER, and I think had we waited, it would have been too late.Once there, I got the proper care, and survived.Agreed that an EMT staff can be the turning point, but sometimes it just doesn't work out that way.Had we had our ambulance and EMT's there, it would have been better, and care could have been given sooner, but sometimes you just have to do it yourself.
On the other side, sometimes the first responder to a situation can be a virtual lifesaver.I did CPR and breathing for a gent that was down, and no one would do anything for him.He had no pulse, no breath,and had already voided his bladder.He was revived, and some years after, his wife still kept in touch.So I disagree with the premise of it's too late.It's never too late to try.We are both survivors, and thank God for the folks that helped!

My Mother died on Chistmas Day 1997 in Montreal Canada of a heart attack.
Please keep in mind that on that day there is no trafic on the roads.
That everithyng is free in CANADA (Socialist system)
It took 27 minutes for the ambulance to show up after a 911 call.
It was to late at that point for my mother.
I can only suggest to all to learn CPR it could save somebody's life or a famely memeber.
Rely on yourself not a goverment.
All the best!

While it would be great to think that some places are better to have a heart attack, I also think you have to consider specific EMS personnel. I myself have been in EMS for almost 16 years. I work as an EMT-Intermediate and am finally going to Paramedic school. Now considering I am not a Paramedic, I do have a personal average of saving 5 out of 6 heart attack patients and it doesn't matter if they have tubes coming out of every hole in their body while lying in a nursing home...I get those back too, or which Paramedic partner I am with that day.. Many of my co-workers call me Angel becuase of my high success rate. So if you are ever in SC in my coverage area, rest assured, there's a great chance I can save you.
Gabriela NREMT-I

While it would be great to think that some places are better to have a heart attack, I also think you have to consider specific EMS personnel. I myself have been in EMS for almost 16 years. I work as an EMT-Intermediate and am finally going to Paramedic school. Now considering I am not a Paramedic, I do have a personal average of saving 5 out of 6 heart attack patients and it doesn't matter if they have tubes coming out of every hole in their body while lying in a nursing home...I get those back too, or which Paramedic partner I am with that day.. Many of my co-workers call me Angel becuase of my high success rate. So if you are ever in SC in my coverage area, rest assured, there's a great chance I can save you.
Gabriela NREMT-I

You should look at Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital, a critical access hospital in Lincoln IL. We have a door to transport time in less then 30 minutes and reprofusion happens at our parent hospital within 90 minutes ( this includes 30 min drive time). I believe national averages are hours, not minutes. I'm not sure the survial rate but if you want speedy action, living in Lincoln IL is the place to be.

Todd

I was a very lucky man as I was home alone with my 15 and 13 year old son and daughter and had a major heart attack (down for 7 minutes) my son called my sister and 911 she gave me CPR before the Ambulance arrived to shock me 3 times and revive me... I suffered short term memory loss and depression No major brain damage my heart Dr. tells me that he can not tell me why I am still here today Other than the good man above didn???t need me right now... I was on a Duragesic Pain Patch 100mg due to a major back spinal surgery due to an accident at work that cause a blood clot and the Heart Attack.... Thanks for the story and all who helped to save me???"God-Bless"
Thank God, Mark

Yes because heart attacks and convenience go hand in hand. I'll be sure to tell myself, "Self. For god's sake if you're going to have a heart attack, have it in Seattle." I'm sure my body will happily oblige. Hmm, shouldn't I be using this same power to prevent my body from having a heart attack in the first place? Nah...that would be too predictable.

Yes because heart attacks and convenience go hand in hand. I'll be sure to tell myself, "Self. For god's sake if you're going to have a heart attack, have it in Seattle." I'm sure my body will happily oblige. Hmm, shouldn't I be using this same power to prevent my body from having a heart attack in the first place? Nah...that would be too predictable.

I was a very lucky man as I was home alone with my 15 and 13 year old son and daughter and had a major heart attack (down for 7 minutes) my son called my sister and 911 she gave me CPR before the Ambulance arrived to shock me 3 times and revive me... I suffered short term memory loss and depression No major brain damage my heart Dr. tells me that he can not tell me why I am still here today Other than the good man above didn???t need me right now... I was on a Duragesic Pain Patch 100mg due to a major back spinal surgery due to an accident at work that cause a blood clot and the Heart Attack.... Thanks for the story and all who helped to save me???"God-Bless"
Thank God, Mark

I was a very lucky man as I was home alone with my 15 and 13 year old son and daughter and had a major heart attack (down for 7 minutes) my son called my sister and 911 she gave me CPR before the Ambulance arrived to shock me 3 times and revive me... I suffered short term memory loss and depression No major brain damage my heart Dr. tells me that he can not tell me why I am still here today Other than the good man above didn???t need me right now... I was on a Duragesic Pain Patch 100mg due to a major back spinal surgery due to an accident at work that cause a blood clot and the Heart Attack.... Thanks for the story and all who helped to save me???
Thank God, Mark

"More importantly, it boosted "neurologically intact" survival from 15 to 39 percent."

This is the only statistic that matters, folks. And neurologically intact doesn't mean that there still isn't some degree of brain damage.

Survival after a cardiac arrest , in my experience of 29 years of nursing, is always accompanied by brain damage, sometimes severe brain damage. (They conveniently leave that part out on televisions shows like ER and Grey's Anatomy).

It doesn't matter how many "survive" after a cardiac arrest, what matters is how many survive with their brains intact. Just looking at survival numbers is meaningless.