The Twin City Ambulance Corporation (TCA) of Western New York announced today that it will launch its new cardiac care program on July 1st. The program goal is to increase survival rates among patients who suffer out-of-hospital coronary events, including heart attacks and sudden cardiac arrest. As the centerpiece of the program, TCA will equip its entire fleet of ambulances with the new ZOLL E Series™ cardiac monitor-defibrillator (E-Series). The E-Series is a highly-specialized monitor-defibrillator built for professional rescuers like TCA’s EMTs and paramedics. Its rugged design is geared to meet the specific demands and extreme conditions that pre-hospital medical care providers face every day.
The E-Series has been on the market for only eight months and is equipped with a number of enhancements that will enable TCA’s paramedics to provide unparalleled patient care. In addition to its cardiac monitor, defibrillator, and pacemaker, the E-Series is outfitted with technology that will enable TCA paramedics to capture 12-Lead EKGs in the field. And once captured, TCA’s paramedics will, as a matter of routine, wirelessly transmit those 12-Lead EKGs via Bluetooth technology to the emergency physicians who will treat our patients at the receiving hospitals.
“The key design feature,” said Terence P. Clark, TCA’s President, “is that no proprietary hardware or software is required to receive the 12-Lead. The E Series will send a copy to any ordinary fax machine. That means, no matter where we transport a patient, the doctor who will treat that patient will have the patient’s 12-Lead EKG in hand before the patient reaches the hospital.”
Armed with the critical diagnostic information contained in the 12-Lead, the emergency department physician can now begin to consider treatment options before actually seeing the patient. According to Thomas J. Maxian, TCA’s C.E.O. / General Counsel, “this is especially important for patients who suffer heart attacks because as time passes, heart muscle dies.” Maxian added that “in those heart attack cases, our cardiac care program will now enable emergency physicians to set in motion, even before the patient arrives, the wheels of definitive care by alerting the cardiac catheterization team or preparing “clot-busting” medications called thrombolytics.”
In addition to 12-lead, the E-series is outfitted with a number of distinguishing features. Among them are end-tidal carbon dioxide (CO2) monitoring, often referred to as capnography. The capnography feature will enable TCA paramedics to measure the amount of CO2 exhaled by critical patients whose conditions necessitate the placement of specialized breathing tubes. Maxian said that “measuring exhaled CO2 will give paramedics an additional means by which to confirm that the tubes are properly placed.”
The E-Series is also equipped with pulse oximetry - to monitor the oxygen concentration in a patient’s blood; non-invasive blood pressure monitoring; and a GPS clock that recalibrates every time the machine is turned on. “All tolled,” said Clark, “we couldn’t find a better machine if we designed it ourselves.”
TCA’s Business Manager, Robert Orlowski, said, “This investment in the cardiac health of our community represents the largest single expenditure in company history. We took this bold step because we are totally committed to delivering the best emergency care to the members of our community.” According to Orlowski, TCA will spend nearly $400,000 to get its cardiac care program up and running. “We did this,” added Orlowski, “because the decision makers at this company are emergency medical services people, not bean counters. We made this investment in the community because our board of directors, corporate officers, and managers are all part of the local community.”
TCA has been serving the Western New York community for over fifty years. It now employs more than 200 medical professionals, operates a fleet of nearly 40 vehicles, and answers more than 35,000 calls annually. Additionally, TCA is the only privately owned and operated Ambulance Company in the entire Buffalo - Niagara Region.