Mission Lifeline Grant

Recently, the American Heart Association awarded Ortonville Hospital a $12,000.00 grant that will help patients having a heart attack. This grant money covered the entire expense for EKG transmission software that was installed at OAHS this past November. The software enables the medical team at the hospital to receive an electronic EKG (a tracing of the heart) directly from the ambulance and well before the patient arrives at the Emergency Room. Once the medical team can view the EKG, treatment, stabilization and transfer plans get started immediately. The software even allows us to send the patient’s EKG to a referring hospital so they can get the cardiac cath team alerted and ready to intervene. Every minute we can save in treating our most critical heart attack patients, helps to save heart tissue and patient lives; that is why this grant is so helpful for our community.

No one understands this better than Oklahoma resident, Bobby Joy. On November 8th, 2014 he started having chest pains and soon after called 911. Within minutes the ambulance crew arrived and were able to use the new equipment, sending vital information right to the awaiting team at OAHS.

Thanks in large part to the new equipment, and well trained staff, Bobby Joy was able to come back to the hopital a few weeks later for a picture and to express gratitude.

A GROUP EFFORT in helping save the life of Bobby Joy of Oklahoma on Nov. 8. Pictured from left to right are nurses Melissa Davis, Anita Anderson, Sandy Brown, cardiac arrest survivor Bobby Joy, and EMT’s Barb Dockter and Scott Huizenga. Not pictured is paramedic Maria Wiltscheck. With the help of a Physio Control Lifepack 15 cardiac monitor purchased for the Ortonville Ambulance, the group was able to forward information to the Ortonville Hospital on the heart attack suffered by Bobby Joy.