Pilot project allows Kamloops paramedics to administer life-saving heart attack drug

A new pilot project allows Kamloops paramedics to administer a medication for heart attack patients shortly after arriving on the scene. 

The trial, organized through the Collaborative Heart Attack Management Program, aims to reduce the amount of damage patients experience from heart attacks while waiting to receive medical care at the hospital, said Renee Gilroy, an advanced care paramedic with the B.C. Ambulance Service in the southern Interior city.

"It's amazing because we know that Alberta does this already and if the medication is given within the first hour, 30 per cent of all heart attacks are aborted," she said. 

"So these patients then will have decreased stays in the hospital [and] their quality of life potentially after this heart attack will be that much better."

Advanced care paramedics who have received training for the pilot project will now use an electrocardiogram, or ECG, for patients they think are having a heart attack when they arrive at the scene of a 911 call.

If patients show signs of an ST elevation heart attack — which is very serious — paramedics can send the ECG to the on-call cardiologist at the hospital and work with them to determine if they need to administer TNKase, a clot-busting medication, explained Gilroy.

Anders Ganstal, regional medical director for B.C. Ambulance Service and an emergency room physician at the Royal Inland Hospital, said quick treatment is particularly important when dealing with heart attacks because the heart is being  blocked by a blood clot and oxygen can't get through, which means the heart muscle can die.

"The exciting part here is that we can give this medication as soon as we arrive at the doorstep of the patient's house or wherever they're having the heart attack and melt away that clot," he told Daybreak Kamloops' Jenifer Norwell.

"If we do that earlier, within 60 minutes or less, we can actually completely abort any evidence of patients having had a heart attack. I'm really excited. I think we're all really excited," he said.

The project has the potential to help many people because in the Kamloops area some of the hospital transport times for patients can be up to 40 minutes.

"We know that time is muscle, so the quicker we can get this medication, the quicker that patient receives the benefits," said Gilroy. 

New protocol

Ganstal, the B.C. Ambulance Service, and a local cardiologist worked together for nearly a year to create this new protocol.

The trial will look at 10 cases to determine whether or not the protocol works. 

"We're going to review each one closely to see if it's beneficial in our area, in our region, and in our province, ultimately. But right now, it's just for this Kamloops area and so we're going slow to make sure we do this right." said Ganstal.

They hope to complete the trial in about nine months, added Gilroy.

"I'm hoping that the results show a positive outcome and that the need is there and potentially this project could expand," she said.