Coordinated care saves a life
After a scary nighttime cardiac arrest episode, Jeannette is thankful to the first responders and medical teams at Brigham City Community Hospital for their quick care.
As a community hospital in a small city, Brigham City Community Hospital is more than capable of delivering major, life-saving care. And that made all the difference for Jeannette McFarland.
Jeannette and her husband, Darin, were having what they thought would be a good night’s sleep. What happened instead was her hubby urgently trying to wake her up. She was gasping for breath and then, stopped breathing. He quickly called 911 and started CPR.
“My husband knew I had a high risk for something happening to my heart or brain,” explained Jeannette. “My dad died from a heart attack, and my mom passed away from a brain aneurysm.”
When the police arrived at her home, Jeannette was unresponsive, still not breathing and had no pulse. An officer used a defibrillator on her twice. She started breathing but then stopped again.
Emergency medical technicians came on the scene and got her heart going two more times. At this point, she kept breathing on her own. As the first responders worked hard to bring her back to life, Jeannette was technically dead for about 10-15 minutes total, but not all at once.
An ambulance ride later, she arrived at Brigham City Community Hospital. That’s when the fully trained team in the emergency department jumped into action. They immediately ran tests for heart attack, stroke an aneurysm and other potential causes.
“They quickly did the right tests in a very short amount of time,” said Jeannette. “Then they accurately diagnosed me with cardiac arrest.”
Less than an hour and a half later, the MountainStar Patient Transfer Center had coordinated transportation to Ogden Regional Medical Center for further treatment. That’s when cardiovascular specialist, Dr. Peter Forstall, and his team took over.
“I was quickly admitted to the ICU and put into an induced coma so that my organs could ‘cool down,’” Jeannette recalled.
The medications used to induce the coma kept her sedated. So the next thing she remembers is being helped into her car to go home. But her husband Darin vividly recalls the experience at both hospitals.
“The care was so good at both hospitals,” he tells Jeannette. “At Brigham City Community; they got right to you. Then they quickly diagnosed you and got you to the additional care you needed.”
Learn more about the services at Brigham City Hospital or call (435) 734-9471.