While thrombolytics are very effective, they cannot be given to patients who had a recent stoke or who have a bleeding disorder. But many hospitals weren't equipped to diagnose and treat heart attack victims quickly. As a result, CRH's door to treatment time is now well below the recommended 30-minute time frame. Today, nurses immediately give all patients with chest pain an EKG and initiate blood work. When a heart attack is suspected, a physician is summoned immediately to assess the patient and administer blood thinners and clot-dissolving drugs as appropriate.
Many patients ignore the symptoms of a heart attack.
Consequently, more than half of all heart attack deaths occur before patients reach the hospital. And statistics show that people in this area wait an hour longer to seek treatment than patients at comparable hospitals. It Can't Happen to Me Patty was 37 and physically fit when the unthinkable happened. She felt pressure in her chest on Thanksgiving Day in 1995 but thought it was indigestion. The next day, the pressure had intensified, and she had trouble breathing.