Oakwood Gives Life-Saving Equipment to Trenton Firefighters

Trenton first responders have new tools to help cardiac distress patients, thanks to a gift from the Oakwood Healthcare System.

The hospital system—which includes —has donated two packs of equipment and training to the Trenton Fire Department  totaling $70,000.

The Physio Control Lifepack 15 Monitor/Defibrillator helps reduce “door-to-balloon” times. That's the time it takes for EMS or firefighters to get a cardiac distress patient through the ER door to a lab for emergency angioplasty.

Scott Stockinger, trauma prevention coordinator for Oakwood, gave a presentation on Monday regarding the new technology to the Trenton City Council at the regularly scheduled council meeting.

"In approximately two to three weeks we'll have the product available and we will hopefully be able to get the product out about a week or two after that," Stockinger said. "Firefighters will be all trained on that, hopefully in the month."

Scott Spielman, spokesman for Oakwood, said the donations were part of a system-wide movement to get the technology into the hands of emergency service providers.

“We’ve donated $560,000 to area fire departments in Trenton, Allen Park, Wayne, Westland and Inkster, to name a few,” Spielman said.

Spielman said the packs are used when emergency personnel get to a person’s house. Emergency responders can hook the individual up to the pack and transfer vital patient information from the scene to a waiting hospital or doctor’s cell phone.

The Trenton Fire Department will receive the equipment and training soon.

Spielman said the packs could cut treatment time in half, which could translate to more lives saved.

According to a press release provided by Oakwood Healthcare Systems, the technology could help treat cardiac patients in as little as 40 minutes–less than half the national standard time. In 2010, hospitals already using the technology treated more than 90 percent of patients in less than 90 minutes, with an average of about 50 minutes in at least three hospitals.