SBY Fire Dept. recognized, awarded by American Heart Association

SALISBURY, Md. – The Salisbury Fire Department was recognized by the American Heart Association for their quick and efficient response to heart attack patients. “It’s all based on our metrics for chest pain treatment and our delivery of a patient in a timely manner to the hospital. We got the silver award this year as we were recognized for the bronze award last year,” said EMS Captain Chris Truitt.

Truitt tells 47ABC that the department received the Lifeline EMS Silver Plus Recognition Award because of their ability to quickly identify when patients are having a heart attack. “It’s all based on the dispatch protocols. We go off of that. Once we’re on scene it’s a very concerted team effort. There’s a lot of moving parts with the paramedics doing a lot of treatment, while everyone else is documenting things, getting stuff ready to send,” said Truitt.

The EMS captain says that many times – Salisbury’s EMS crews won’t even stop at the ER. They’ll bring heart attack patients to the cath lab – which is a specialized unit for heart health.

Truitt says that the faster first responders can identify a heart attack – the higher of a chance the patient has to survive. “It’s really our timely treatment and recognition because every minute that somebody doesn’t have the recognition of a heart attack – or STEMI – that’s a heart muscle that’s getting damaged. So the earlier we recognize it and start to treat it and then transmit our findings to the hospital – that way they can activate the Cath lab a lot faster,” said Truitt.

Truitt tells 47ABC he wants people to remember that if they’re experiencing chest pains – it’s always better to be safe than sorry. “Chest pains aren’t something you want to mess around with – or to think it may go away or it may not. So, it’s better to be safe and get EMS out there. We can figure out what’s going on,” said Truitt.