Critical for Heart Attack Victims to Call 911 at Onset of Symptoms

Minutes matter

Medical care begins at the time of the call from a person managing heart attack symptoms. Dispatchers, who are trained for emergency calls, ask a set of questions to begin the assessment of the situation. If the dispatcher determines the caller might be undergoing a heart attack, Irving paramedics will arrive to the scene within a matter of minutes. <br”>
Upon arrival, paramedics can further assess a person’s condition and they have the ability to initiate an electrocardiogram (ECG) on-site. Paramedics also are trained to revive someone whose heart has stopped and can administer advanced life-saving cardiac medications to heart attack patients. Moreover, paramedics are trained to adequately stabilize the patient for transport to the nearest and most appropriate hospital.

By the time a patient arrives at the treating hospital, advanced care and treatment usually begins upon arrival because Irving paramedics already have communicated necessary medical information, such as the ECG results, to the hospital. With initial testing completed, people experiencing chest pains who arrive at the hospital via ambulance bypass emergency room waits of self-transported patients and are fast-tracked to the catheterization laboratory for continued care.

Reducing time to treatment is the No. 1 factor in saving lives in the event of a heart attack, and calling 911 at the onset of symptoms can save up to an hour in the overall treatment process. The message AHA wants to get out by way of the City of Irving Fire Department is for residents to trust 911, and not to die of doubt.

AHA is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary health organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Irving Fire Department’s partnership with AHA is funded in part by a grant from the W.W. Caruth Communities Foundation of Texas.

To learn more about AHA’s national Don’t Die of Doubt campaign and to see collection of survival story videos from everyday people who experienced the symptoms as well as the doubts, visit heart.org/dontdieofdoubt.