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SOUTH JORDAN -- Paramedics in South Jordan helped save a man's life last month using a new emergency field procedure. It was a breakthrough for Utah and could end up saving many more lives in the future.
The procedure is called therapeutic hypothermia. It gives cardiac arrest victims a better chance at survival and lessens the risk of brain damage. The paramedics were the first in the state to use this procedure in the field when seconds mattered for Tom Anderson.
Anderson suffered cardiac arrest a month ago. His breathing was labored, his eyes rolled back, and his wife, Debra Anderson, was terrified. She called 911.
As paramedics raced to their home, the 911 operator started Debra on CPR.
"She was really calm, but she talked me through it," Debra said. "It was scary, really scary."
Paramedics arrived three minutes later. They met Tom again Thursday, for the first time since they saved his life with the help of therapeutic hypothermia.
"I've been looking forward to thanking each and every one of them for their effort and professionalism. Words can't describe how I feel about them," Tom said.
After the paramedics jump started his heart, they gave Tom an IV of cold fluid to start the therapeutic hypothermia. Once that fluid got into his blood stream, his core temperature started to cool. The idea is to decrease damage to other organs, including the brain, that happens when blood begins flowing again through vessels and capillaries.
Capt. Brian Allred of the South Jordan Fire Department was one of the paramedics on scene that day.
"We actually put cooling packs on them also, but this is what's doing the core temperature cooling," he explained.
The timing could not have been better for Tom. The paramedics who responded to that call had trained on the therapeutic hypothermia just days before; and just an hour before, they came out of a session on advanced cardiac life support.
Three hundred thousand people suffer heart attacks each year in the United States. If you go into cardiac arrest outside a hospital, like Tom did, your chances of surviving and being discharged is only 5 percent. So, Anderson beat incredible odds.
Jordan Valley Medical Center started to use this procedure in the hospital several years ago. The hospital's director of emergency medicine, Dr. Bart Johansen, said the procedure has proven itself over the years.
"It has significant increase of survival to the tune of at least 20 percent," he said.
Johansen said the treatment is even more effective when started in the field and continued in the hospital.
"By initiating therapeutic hypothermia rapidly, you essentially slow the metabolism, cool the patient's body down and allow a protective effect on the tissues of the body on a cellular level," he said.
Cells can repair themselves, and that saves our brains and other tissues from further damage.
As far as Tom is concerned, he's glad they have the latest life-saving tools in South Jordan.
"There's not anything I could do to ever repay these guys for what they did for me," he said. The city, the department and the medical center aspire to work together to save even more cardiac arrest patients. They want to teach CPR to many more members of the community.
"We're going to give you the very best cardiac care in case you have a sudden cardiac event," said South Jordan Fire Battalion Chief Wayne Edginton.
After a few days, Tom went home with no ill effects from cardiac arrest. This procedure works in the field because of good training and teamwork among the paramedics in the field and doctors in the ER who carry on the treatment. We can expect to see other paramedics begin to use this procedure in Utah in the months ahead.
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Story compiled with contributions from Jed Boal and Marc Giauque.
