STEMI Transfer Process for Heart Attack Patients at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Kaufman

Terry Hedrick was serving as a pall-bearer at a funeral when he began to feel ill. Friends took him to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Kaufman, where Arthur Heaffer, M.D., and the medical staff there determined that he was having a heart attack.

They initiated a cardiac transfer protocol, phoning one number to summon a CareFlite helicopter and alert James Park, M.D., and the medical staff in the cardiac catheterization lab at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas.

An optimal "door-to-balloon time" to get a patient from an E.R. in an outlying area to successful balloon angioplasty at a tertiary care facility is 90 minutes. In this case, by the time Dr. Park finished the procedure on Hedrick it had been only 71 minutes from door to balloon.

Hedrick likens the experience to a baseball game. The first three innings took place at Texas Health Kaufman, the middle innings during his time in the CareFlite helicopter.

The final three innings occurred at Texas Health Dallas, where Dr. Park "saved my life" in the bottom of the ninth inning.

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