A new prehospital medical procedure implemented by Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue is credited with saving lives and improving recovery outcomes for five patients in the past two months. The procedure, called prehospital induced hypothermia, lowers patient's body temperatures to reduce the risk of injury to tissue following a period of insufficient blood flow. The heart, brain and kidneys are among the organs most sensitive to inadequate blood supply.
Responding to a choking incident at a Fort Lauderdale restaurant on Feb.10 Fire-Rescue performed its first ever prehospital induced hypothermia procedure on an 81-year-old male patient who was without pulse, not breathing and had been in cardiac arrest for four minutes.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Station 13 crews followed Advanced Cardiac Life Support protocols and an obstruction was cleared from the victim's airway. Minutes later, as the patient regained a pulse, crews recognized that the patient met the criteria for the prehospital induced hypothermia procedure. Under the new protocol, a Convenient Hypothermia Induction Caddy bag, filled with saline solution and chilled to 34 degrees, was infused. The patient's body temperature was successfully lowered prior to delivery to the Emergency Room.
Two days later, the Fire-Rescue Medical Director, Fire Chief and EMS Battalion Chief met with the patient in his hospital room to review the outcome. "The patient had just finished a walk down the hallway and was sitting upright and talking," said Fire-Rescue Acting Chief Jeff Justinak. "The new protocol was followed perfectly and with the assistance of all on the scene, the process of induced hypothermia was accomplished, saving this gentleman's life."
Last week, the patient visited Fire-Rescue headquarters to thank rescue crews and staff. Expressing gratitude, the former patient, full of energy and emotion said, "No words could describe the feeling I'm experiencing; I've been given a new lease on life."
One of the rescuers responded, "This is what we train for, but it is so rewarding to be able to meet a person whose life you saved."
