New cardiac program treats patients faster

"The last thing Erik FitzPatrick remembers of the Corporate Challenge road race, he was waving to his wife and young daughter as he neared the finish line. That's when he went down with a massive heart attack. Fortunately, runners behind him in the May 15 race in Montpelier started CPR, and an ambulance arrived within minutes. 'Evidently, I was dead,' FitzPatrick said. The next day, he woke up in the hospital. He doesn't remember being resuscitated twice in the street. He doesn't recall being taken to Central Vermont Hospital and then transferred the 40 miles to Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, where physicians opened his clogged artery about 90 minutes after he hit the pavement. FitzPatrick, who's 43, figures he was lucky to have the heart attack where he did, and not while running alone. But the system that got him to Burlington so fast was anything but luck. Physicians at Fletcher Allen have been working with their colleagues to provide heart attack patients lifesaving treatment in minutes rather than hours, even if they fall ill in remote parts of the state. The program uses technology and teamwork, and takes advantage of a change in state rules - MSNBC