By Daniel Lopez
The Monterey County Herald
MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. — Emergency medical service providers in Monterey County have launched an initiative to reduce the time it takes for heart attack patients to receive treatment.
Under a new response approach announced Tuesday, Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital and Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula agreed to activate their cardiologist response teams while patients are en route to the hospital.
The teams will be called on to start preparing once notified by ambulance paramedics that an electrocardiogram test done in the field indicates an patient is suffering from an ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction, said Dr. James Stubblefield, Monterey County’s Emergency Medical Services director.