Lehigh Valley Health Network is teaming up with the Eastern Pennsylvania EMS Council to improve the care of people who suffer heart attacks.

LVHN recently donated $76,000 to fund the purchase of 76 broadband modems that will enable ambulance personnel in Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon and Schuylkill counties to send electrocardiograms effortlessly and wirelessly to area emergency rooms. This will accelerate the diagnosis and initiation of the lifesaving care of patients suffering the most serious kinds of heart attacks, called St-segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction.The EMS Council's gift of $50,000 will purchase the three-year data plan needed to facilitate the connection between the ambulance-based modems and the receiving hospitals.Out-of-hospital patients suspected by EMS providers of having a heart attack typically undergo a highly sensitive, 12-lead EKG provided by a first responder to confirm the diagnosis, which is often caused by a blocked artery.If the ambulance isn't linked wirelessly to an ER via a modem, a paramedic at the scene or en route to the ER interprets an EKG, then verbally alerts a hospital emergency room physician that a heart attack is suspected. This is confirmed at the ER by a second EKG.Ambulances equipped with modems can send the EKGs immediately to the destination ER's medical command physician for confirmation. This gives the ER staff specific details and enough time to prepare for the arrival of the patient and alert an in-house heart attack team of the situation."This new technology will greatly improve our collaborative regional system of STEMI care for patients in our communities," says Alexander Rosenau,senior vice chair of the department of emergency medicine at LVHN."Each year, thousands of persons in the Greater Lehigh Valley suffer heart attacks at home, work or in other nonhospital settings."In addition, the ER physician can forward the EKG to the mobile device of the cardiologist who will be treating the patient. Unblocking the heart attack-causing artery quickly gives the best chance for saving the patient's life and the heart muscle that often has been deprived of blood during the heart attack.Local ambulances receiving modems are Lehighton Ambulance Association, eight; Shenandoah Community Ambulance, three; West Schuylkill Life Support, 2; and Northampton Regional Emergency Medical Services, five.