Thanks to grants from Verizon announced late last month, heart attack patients in New Jersey now will be able to receive medical treatment more quickly. A total of $100,000 in grants thus far from the Verizon Foundation to the Foundation of University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) are funding STAT-MI, a program that allows doctors at University Hospital in Newark to view electrocardiogram images sent from an ambulance via their smartphones.
"Every minute counts when someone is having a heart attack," Dr. Marc Kapholz, director of cardiology at UMDNJ-The University Hospital, said, according to a press release. "By supporting STAT-MI, the Verizon Foundation is helping us deliver life-saving care when time is of the essence."
So far, 12 ambulances with the hospital's emergency medical service have been hooked up with STAT-MI technology. According to the Foundation of UMDNJ, time to treatment for heart attack patients has improved by 131 minutes, thanks to the program. Such patients, once a heart attack is confirmed, are able to bypass emergency room care, and instead go straight to cath lab treatment.
The foundation also claims a lower death rate, and says its patients have shorter hospital stays and smaller heart attacks.
For more information:
- here's the Foundation of UMDNJ press release
- read this CMIO brief