print

News Release

July 1 , 2008

Media Contact:
Christina Chavira
Communications Specialist
530.332.5589 - office; 530.588.4411 - cell
christina.chavira@enloe.org

Enloe Foundation awarded rural cardiac alert program grant
designed to improve survival of heart attack patients

CHICO, Calif., July 1, 2008  – Blue Shield of California Foundation awarded the Enloe Foundation a grant for $259,378 to help fund technology that will create a Rural Emergency Cardiac Alert Program in this area. The program is designed to increase the chances of survival for heart attack patients in rural areas by more quickly directing them to the most appropriate care.

New 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG /EKG) machines with built-in telecommunication technology are being placed in 19 ambulances. The grant helped purchase 14 of these systems. The ECG /EKG records electrical activity of the heart; and the built-in telecommunications technology sends this data via land or cellular line to a hospital before the patient arrives, allowing hospitals to ready personnel and equipment in advance. Matching gifts for the grant were received by Enloe Medical Center, First Responder and the Enloe Foundation.

Enloe has given the machines to five ambulance providers serving rural areas of our region. The Rural Emergency Cardiac Alert Program will serve more than 50 communities in Butte, Glenn and Colusa counties and the western region of Plumas county. Organizations to participate in the Rural Emergency Cardiac Alert Program are Enloe Medical Center, First Responder EMS, Westside Ambulance Association, Chester Fire Protection District, Peninsula Fire District and Plumas District Hospital.

Training of emergency responders on using the equipment and reading patient test results began in May and June. Before the Rural Emergency Cardiac Alert Program is fully implemented, the equipment will be installed in the ambulances, and the Northern California Emergency Medical Services (Norcal EMS), theagency responsible for oversight of pre-hospital medical care and protocols in our region, will develop a regional protocol that will govern the program.

“We expect people living in rural areas to greatly benefit,” said Darrell Fuller, manager of the Enloe Cardiac Catheterization Lab and Cardiovascular Diagnostics. “This program was created to get treatment more quickly to people suffering from heart attacks.” The Rural Emergency Cardiac Alert Program is expected to save critical time by allowing emergency responders to test patients in transit, and based on those test results, to bring heart attack patients directly to the hospital with the needed services, instead taking them to the closest hospital, testing them, and transferring to the hospital with the appropriate services.

The Enloe Foundation is a 501[c] 3 not-for-profit philanthropic organization established in 1986 to secure contributions in support of Enloe Medical Center.


                                                                               ##
Enloe Medical Center is a local, nonprofit health care organization. For more information, please call 530/332-7300 or visit us online at http://www.enloe.org.   Enloe Medical Center is located at 1531 Esplanade Chico, Calif.  95926.