Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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Ed Yeates reporting Having a heart attack in the middle of nowhere - by yourself!
Victims can now take out a 3 by 6 inch plastic kit and self administer four drugs that could keep them alive. All this, from some unique pharmaceutical packages developed by Utah doctors.
With portable defibillators hanging on walls at airports and in businesses - it was only a matter of time - before cardiologists like Dr. William Mackie took "heart rescue" to the next level.
Out in the wilderness, hours if not days away from civilization, the ingredients inside the small plastic case could now save somebody from the deadly effects of a heart attack."
WILLIAM MACKIE: "THE KITS COME WITH INSTRUCTIONS AS TO WHAT TO DO. -edit to 50:04 IT AT LEAST GIVES YOU A FIGHTING CHANCE."
A fighting chance with your own hands to walk out - and into the hands of somebody who can give you more extensive care.
Step by step, the kits let you self-adminster four oral drugs . First, doses of aspirin to soften up arteries and thin blood.
Then comes nitroglycerin to relieve pain and lessen the heart attack.
Step three - four doses of another blood thinner, administered 30 minutes after the first chest pain.
And finally, beta blockers to prevent cardiac arrest.
WILLIAM MACKIE, M.D., CARDIOLOGIST, LDS HOSPITAL: "THE ASPIRIN IS CHEWABLE, WORKS WITHIN TEN TO FIFTEEN MINUTES. THE NITRO GLYCERIN IS INSTANTANEOUS - WITHIN A MINUTE. THE CLOPIDROGREL - THE BLOOD THINNER - WORKS WITHIN ABOUT A HALF HOUR."
That's enough time for hikers, hunters, snowmobilers, cross country skiers, river runners and more to stabilize and survive.
For WORLD travelers..
MACKIE: "THEY'RE GOING TO BE OUT OF TOUCH WITH CIVILIZATION. THEY'RE MAYBE GOING TO BE IN AFRICA OR SOUTHEAST ASIA, OR MAYBE THEY'RE GOING TO BE ON CRUISE ON A SAILBOAT ACROSS HAWAII."
In addition to heart attacks, Dr. Colin Grissom has come up with a high altitude sickness kit and Dr. James Disario has built one for travel diarrhea.
The Utah physician group has formed its own pharmacy for the kits - since they can only be dispensed by prescription.
