By Julie Shoemaker
We were paged out shortly after arriving on shift for a chest pain. Instead of an address, we were given a parking area in the Fish and Wildlife Reserve in our county. Upon arrival, we were met by the DNR officer who told us it was “a hike” to the patient location. He informed us our patient was not doing well and could not hike out.
The local volunteer fire department arrived and helped us pack all our equipment. We were very grateful for the first responders! We followed the DNR officer through briars, woods, across a creek and finally to our patient who was standing thigh deep in a swamp!
He was a large man (320 lbs), very pale and diaphoretic. He was complaining of crushing chest pain. We were not surprised our 12-lead showed significant S-T elevation in multiple leads. We immediately radioed for a helicopter and initiated a STEMI activate. We gave our patient baby aspirin and nitro as per protocol.
We now had to get our patient out of the swamp. With much help from first responders and the DNR officer, we carried our patient on a long spine board, taking turns. During the brief stops to swap out people carrying, we did quick vitals and administered our second and third nitros. Crossing the creek was a challenge. We put people on either side and one in the middle to pass our patient across the creek.
Once back at the ambulance, we had to drive a half of a mile to the landing zone. In this time, we started an IV and gathered additional patient information. The helicopter was on the ground waiting when we reached the landing zone. We handed off patient care and returned to base.
We later learned our patient had 100 percent blockage of the LAD! With the combined effort of my partner and I, first responders, DNR, the helicopter crew and receiving hospital, our patient when from duck hunting in a swamp to cath lab in under 90 minutes. It was a true team effort that saved a life!