Item 4 - Report on Mobile Healthcare Services Option

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across the nation. Chief Murphy also designed and developed the FireMed Program, the largest network of reciprocating air and ground ambulance services in the nation. Case Study #4 The MediHelp call center receives a call from a woman who says she is concerned about her husband, a 49 year old warehouse worker, who came home after work looking pale and very weak. She thinks he may have other symptoms he is not telling her about. The nurse asks to talk with him but he refuses. The nurse directs dispatch to send an MPCU nurse to the house to check on him. When the nurse arrives he reluctantly agrees to let her examine him. After a few questions, he grudgingly admits to some pain in his chest and left arm. He is now also sweating and nauseous and experiencing greater pain. The nurse explains that she needs to do some extra tests. Following protocol, she hooks him up to a 12 lead EKG, administers oxygen and contacts medical control, sending patient video along with the EKG and other background information. Medical control reviews the EKG and other findings and concurs that he is having a heart attack. The nurse radios for EMS. Within minutes, a paramedic fire engine arrives and the nurse works with the crew who starts an IV and administers pain medication. Then a paramedic ambulance arrives to transport the man to the hospital. Based on earlier reports, Medical Control orders thrombolytic (“clot busting”) medication to be given on his arrival at the hospital. After treatment in the hospital, the man is discharged 3 days later. Doctors indicate that his wife’s decision to call for help quickly and the early diagnosis and medication and follow up care in the hospital has resulted in prevention of more serious damage and possible death that would have been caused by delayed access to treatment. Denial of signs of a heart attack is common, particularly in adult males. Some see it as a sign that they can no longer fill the role of being a key provider for a household. Others fear news of a disability or loss of income or don’t want their neighbors to see emergency equipment and make a big deal of it. This frequently leads to a delay in access of several hours. Thrombolytic medications are only valuable if given shortly after symptoms begin. In this case, the “fail-safe” nature of the MediHelp call center resulted in catching a serious problem early. The patient is spared the possibility of a disability and lengthy recovery or unnecessary early death and the attending financial consequences. 13