OSF gives heart monitors to fire departments

By Mike DeDoncker

BusinessRockford.com

Four fire departments serving rural areas received electrocardiogram monitors Tuesday from OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center to help them detect and report heart attacks when they respond to emergency calls.

The 12-lead monitors, presented to Belvidere, South Beloit, Kirkland and Rochelle departments, are expected to be in use within a month.

Jane Pearson, medical director for OSF Saint Anthony’s Emergency Medical Services Department, said with the monitors, emergency services personnel can send a diagnosis of an acute heart attack directly to the hospital “before the ambulance even leaves the scene.

“In other settings where we have done this, we have been able to save 20 to 30 minutes off the time it takes to get the patient’s coronary artery opened.”

She said it can mean the difference between life and death or between having a functional heart and a marginal heart to the patient.

Belvidere fire Chief David Worrell said with current budget constraints, the donation could not have come at a better time for the departments. Funding for the equipment was made possible by a grant from the Cy Pres fund administered by the Northwest Municipal Council, and the OSF Saint Anthony Foundation.

David Schertz, CEO of OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center, said donating the monitors was the hospital’s way of thanking the departments as “vital components to the success of our Level I Trauma Center.”

Reach staff writer Mike DeDoncker at 815-987-1382 or mdedoncker@rrstar.com.