Voice of the Mid-Columbia | Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, Wash. |
Print
E-Mail
tool name
closeFriday, Apr. 10, 2009
Richland fire team to get cooler unit for cardiac care
By the Herald staff
The Richland Fire Department's ambulance transport team received a $600 donation Thursday to purchase a cooler unit for its truck that can help cardiac arrest patients.
Kadlec Medical Center uses induced therapeutic hypothermia to treat some patients with cardiac arrest. In cardiac arrest, the heart abruptly stops beating and blood stops flowing, which can lead to swelling of the brain and severe neurological injuries. Therapeutic hypothermia allows a brain time to recover from injury.
The Columbia Wheatland Chapter of American Association of Critical Care Nurses and Kadlec's intensive care unit recently held a hypothermia quilt raffle that raised money for the purchase of the ambulance transport coolers. The coolers will allow the transport team to start the first steps of hypothermia treatment before a patient reaches the hospital.
@Nyx.CommentBody@