Milton FD installs LIFENET system to help save lives.

By Accessmilton.com

Allows paramedics to send heart scans to ERs in real time.

MILTON, GA., June 14, 2011 - The City of Milton's Fire-Rescue Department has taken another step toward improving the survival rate of heart attack victims by installing the LIFENET system, which allows paramedics to transmit heart scans from the field to emergency rooms in real time.

"The American College of Cardiology has set a standard of 90 minutes from the time heart attack patients walk into an emergency room to the time their arteries are opened as the standard of care," said Robert Edgar, Milton's Fire Chief. "With this new system, patients can go from 'door to balloon' in less than an hour."But LIFENET is more than just new machinery, said Edgar. It also involves: advanced training for paramedics so they can more accurately assess 911 patients while in the field; coordination with clinicians who prepare before the patient arrives via ambulance; and a lockstep system for local hospitals so that once the patient arrives, he or she is moved within minutes through the ER and taken to the catheterization laboratory to have an artery opened.

"Each year, close to 400,000 people suffer the type of heart attack this new system can help identify almost instantly," said Edgar. "There's no question it will save someone's life in Milton - it's just a matter of time."