The Corpus Christi Caller-Times

CORPUS CHRISTI — Instead of saving lives and fighting blazes, Corpus Christi Fire Department Capt. Jim L. Callis spent his Tuesday morning getting the patient view of a heart attack to help enhance response time.

But for him it was "no pain, just gain," he said.

Each 10 minutes shaved from response-to-treatment time increases a patient's chance of surviving by 40 percent, said Sherry Musick, the center's chest pain coordinator for the Corpus Christi Medical Center.

The city's fire department, Emergency Medical Service and Corpus Christi Medical Center Doctors Regional staged Callis' mock heart attack to test and coordinate responses between ambulance staff and emergency room attendants.

The Doctors Regional and Bay Area campuses have been accredited as chest pain centers by the international Society of Chest Pain Centers.

Ambulances bring about 200 people with chest pain to the medical center's emergency rooms monthly, said Steve Hoover, director of business development.

Two years ago, the hospitals' average arrival-to-treatment time was 105 minutes. The national average then was 104 minutes.

Exercises such as Tuesday's have helped the hospitals' staff snip the time to an average of 65 minutes. And heart response coordinators are now working to bypass the emergency room with heart attack patients. If patients reach treatment rooms where catheters are used to open blood vessel blockages more quickly, the present response time could be cut to within 30 minutes, Musick said.

"Time is heart muscle," said Barron Rodriguez, director of critical care and emergency treatment for the medical center. "That's what we're planning to save, which means lives saved."

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