When we find ourselves in emergency situations it helps to know what we need to do because, usually, time is of the essence.
In the case of medical emergencies at Fort Knox, or for any military beneficiary, dialing 911 is always the first option, and heading to the closest emergency room is second. Since Ireland Army Health Clinic has an acute care clinic, but not an ER, when someone has a medical emergency they should always call 911.
And that is a decision recently made by one installation employee.
He was alone in his office when he began having chest pains, nausea, shortness of breath, and became sweaty. That's when he called 911, although his wife said he still didn't believe he was having a heart attack. She said he commented that if it was nothing more than a "gas bubble," he would feel very stupid.
Her husband had been having chest pain for three days, she added, but attributed it to acid reflux.
"We had just finished doing daily vehicle and equipment checks on our ambulance when a 911 emergency call came in for chest pain," recalled Cindy Hudson, a paramedic with Fort Knox's emergency medical services. "We found a 51 year old male patient showing obvious signs of heart attack. (He) was sweating, grey in color, had crushing pressure in his chest and was very nauseated. (He) was placed on oxygen and a cardiac heart monitor--this is when it was confirmed the patient was in fact having a heart attack."
Hudson and her partner that day, EMT Michael Vanderberg, felt that the situation was such that an air ambulance was needed because in the business of saving lives, "time is muscle." The employee was then flown from the helicopter pad at IRAHC to Baptist East Cardiac Catheterization Lab.
"Making timely decisions to get patients to specialized facilities could often mean life or death," Hudson explained. "From the time the patient called 911 to the time he was in the catheterization lab was 58 minutes. We can't beat that time by ground--we are often delayed in traffic as well as the stop at the ER for evaluation."
Hudson noted that the crew received an update later that night and learned that the patient had 100 percent blockage in his circumflex artery--as well as something else.
The patient's wife said he discovered he was diabetic, "something he didn't know before his heart attack." She thanked the EMS crew that saved her husband's life, but had a message she wanted to share:
"Everyone needs to get regular checkups. (We) discovered he was a diabetic only because of his heart attack. Something good came out of a bad situation--we discovered (this) before it started causing major problems allowing him to change his lifestyle to better deal with it," she said.
And that is the importance of going to the correct facility--having personnel who have equipment and specialized training to deal with emergency medical situations.
The difference between an emergency room and the average acute care clinic, Lt. Col. Sandra Rolph the deputy commander of Medical Services and chief of the Department of Medicine explained, is that an ER treats life threatening injuries and illnesses--something that endangers life, limb or vision. An ACC is for minor illnesses such as colds, the flu, ear infections, sore throats, fevers, rashes, minor cuts and burns and sprains.
IRAHC will expand the hours of its ACC in January so it will be open from 8 a.m.--8 p.m., Monday--Friday, and from 8 a.m., -- 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. It will see patient's ages 6 month and up.
Cornes said since the facility's conversion to an ACC, patients have requested longer operating hours, and the clinic is adjusting to accommodate those requests. He added that such changes will give beneficiaries better access to non-emergent care and that area ERs continue to provide quality emergency care when it is needed.
"We are located closely, geographically, to several excellent medical facilities that provide us with specialty services and this incident is a good example of that quality care," he said. "Our EMS staff works diligently with area medical facilities and we are honored to have such compassionate, professional and dedicated personnel."
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