For a patient in cardiac arrest, minutes can be critical, and there’s a saying among medical personnel that “time is muscle.” In other words, the more time that elapses between the onset of symptoms and catheterization, the more heart muscle can be lost, leaving the patient with a much lower chance of survival.

Thanks to a trio of federal grants, the EMTs and paramedics of St. Tammany Fire District 3 in Lacombe will be able to shorten that critical period.

The grants, which totaled more than $50,000, have allowed the department to purchase three Medtronic Lifepak-12 units. The machine is a portable electronic defibrillator that transmits EKG readings and other data via wireless modem, and FD3 is the first district in the parish to acquire the technology.

Capt. Pat Sicard, right, demonstrates the new Lifepak-12, taking blood pressure and other readings from a firefighter who volunteered to be tested. (Staff Photo by Anne Lautzenheiser)

“We’re kind of giddy about it, to be honest,” said FD3 Chief Chuck Flynn. “We’re such a small department, we couldn’t have done it without those grants.”

The units run at about $28,000 each, and were purchased with a Rural Development grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and two grants from the Assistance to Firefighters program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A local foundation also awarded a small grant that made it possible for the department to purchase some peripheral transmitting equipment.

The data is transmitted in an e-mail message to a computer in the emergency room at Louisiana Heart Hospital & Medical Center in Lacombe, which is also the first hospital in the parish to have the capability to receive the data in this manner. The staff is notified by an alarm signal on the computer. The attending physician reads the e-mail, and then prepares the staff and the cardiac unit accordingly, to be ready to treat the patient immediately upon arrival.

The Lifepak-12 has 12 leads, or contacts, meaning it can give a complex reading of the heart, scanning it from many different angles. It also provides either manual or automatic defibrillation, and monitoring of both blood pressure and blood oxygen levels. Technicians can also use the machine to perform procedures that will allow them to stabilize the heartbeat of a person with an abnormal heart rhythm.

Previous systems required regular phone lines to transmit the data, which was then received at the hospital via fax. The new wireless technology will shave chunks of time off the whole process, and could be the difference between life and death, said Capt. Pat Sicard, who leads the EMS department.

“We’ve had an ambulance service for 40 years here, and we pride ourselves on have the very best equipment,” said Sicard.

FD3 has sole provider status for ambulance service in the district, with three ambulances that are certified for Advanced Life Support and Basic Life Support by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. All 18 members of FD3 are required to hold a minimum EMT-Basic certification; of those, two are EMT-Intermediate, and two more are in Paramedic school.

For more information, go to www.stfd3.com.