FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 7, 2017
Office: (973) 972-8761
Mobile: (973) 634-8298
Newark’s University Hospital Emergency Medical Services
Division
Launches Life-Saving EKG Technology
First Hospital in State to Administer Life Saving
Electrocardiograms before Patients Arrive at the Hospital
Newark, NJ -- University
Hospital’s Emergency Medical Technicians are utilizing new technologies to perform
Electrocardiograms, known as “EKGs,” to rapidly test heart activity during
emergency calls. University
Hospital is the first Basic Life Support ambulance provider in New Jersey to deploy
this life-saving procedure.
Two
University Hospital emergency vehicles have been equipped with new portable
cardiac monitors that will help EMT’s to communicate critical findings to emergency
room physicians in real-time. By
performing these tests at the scene of an emergency call, physicians are able
to accelerate treatment plans which may increase
survival rates in heart disease cases, the leading cause of death in New Jersey
according to the State Department of Health.
In
only the first weeks of use, University Hospital has already utilized this new
technology in more than a dozen emergency calls.
Demonstrations
and tours of the new system are available on request.
“The
new technology allows the University Hospital Emergency Medical Services team
to offer the best possible care to those in need of medical attention and to
quickly assess patients who may be experiencing chest pains or who have a
history of cardiac issues” says John Grembowiec, Director of Emergency Medical
Services at University Hospital.
“Now,
patients that may be experiencing a heart attack can be quickly diagnosed, and
immediately transported to University Hospital for time sensitive, life-saving
treatment” added Grembowiec.
“For
patients experiencing symptoms of a heart attack minutes really do matter” says
Gregory Sugalski, MD, Medical Director of the University Hospital’s Emergency
Medical Services, Vice Chair of Clinical Operations, and Assistant Professor of
Emergency Medicine at Rutgers, New Jersey Medical School
“Our new portable cardiac monitors will
help first responders provide safe and timely care to patients from arrival to life saving intervention” added Sugalski.
Miguel Guerrero, University Hospital EMT using the new
portable Cardio Card 12 lead EKG System
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University
Hospital is
one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers, and is the Level 1 Trauma
Center for Northern New Jersey. Located at University Heights in Newark, New
Jersey, University Hospital is a principal teaching hospital of Rutgers
Biomedical and Health Sciences and a regional resource for advanced services
across many medical specialties. In September, the Hospital
announced a partnership with Rutgers Cancer Institute of New
Jersey to expand cancer services across Essex County. For more
information about University Hospital, please visit www.uhnj.org.