Hall Ambulance Service, Inc. will unveil the latest pre-hospital care advance in years on December 1^st when they place in service cardiac monitors capable of acquiring and transmitting 12 Lead Electrocardiograms (ECG). The new equipment will allow Hall Ambulance Paramedics to send an ECG tracing to Emergency Department physicians and cardiologists which will lead to more rapid definitive care for patients suffering from an acute myocardial infarction (heart attack).

Hall Ambulance deployed this advanced equipment in response to requests from local cardiologists and hospitals requesting assistance with improving the cardiac care available in Kern County. Many of the hospitals had initiated new innovative cardiac care programs, but there was considerable room for improvement in pre-hospital care.

According to the American Heart Association, Kern County is last in California for cardiac disease. The new equipment will increase the chance of survival of those suffering a heart attack.

The roll out of this new program coincides with a community based effort to improve cardiac care in Kern County.  An ad hoc committee of various resources throughout the Kern County was established to help develop the program that would benefit from this new equipment. Participants included the Hospital Council of Central California, Hospital Council of Kern, American Heart Association, Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, Bakersfield Heart Hospital, Mercy Hospitals of Bakersfield, San Joaquin Community Hospital, Ridgecrest Regional Hospital, Tehachapi Hospital, Hall Ambulance, Kern Ambulance, Liberty Ambulance, The Kern County Department of Public Health, and the Kern County EMS Department.

The presentation will include comments from several partners in the program followed by a demonstration of the new technology.

Date: Wednesday, December 1^st
Time: 9:00am
Location: Hall Ambulance Service Community Center – 1031 21^st Street, Bakersfield