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Ky. agency awarded grant for heart monitors

The agency will receive four new heart monitors, which cost roughly $36,000 a piece

By Angela Turner
The Times-Tribune

WHITLEY COUNTY, Ky. After a training seminar on Thursday, Whitley County EMS drivers hit the streets with some much-needed new equipment.

Thanks to a federal grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency called the Assistance to Firefighters Grant, Whitley County EMS was able to receive 4 new heart monitors.

EMS Director Kelly Harrison credits firefighter and EMS worker Tabitha Pfoutz for writing the grant.

“I’m very thankful that we got the grant.” Harrison said. “We were behind the times with our equipment.”

“In the AFG grant you are competing against much larger cities,” Pfoutz added. “Thankfully we got it.”

According to Harrison, the new monitors are roughly $36,000 apiece. The grant will cover all but 10 percent, which will be met by the Whitley County Fiscal Court.

The new heart monitors have features that will aid in more accurate patient records. The upgrade will also make things more efficient when communicating with the local hospital Baptist Health Corbin, according to Harrison.

On Aug. 23, Harrison is scheduled to attend an accreditation meeting in hopes to get patients transported directly to the cardiac catheterization lab instead of first going through the emergency room.

“Hopefully, on that date we can set up something,” Harrison said.

One of the biggest differences in the new machines that EMS workers are looking forward to is the capability in being able to monitor CO2 (carbon dioxide) levels.

“We haven’t been able to monitor these levels until this new machine,” Pfoutz said.

“This will provide new capabilities to take care of the patients of Whitley County,” Harrison said.”

Copyright 2016 The Times-Tribune

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