REMS Saves Life of Professor

REMS Saves Life of Professor

BY DANA DURBIN
Rice News Staff
April 22, 1999

The Rice Emergency Medical Service (REMS) on April 5 saved the life of a Shepherd
School of Music professor who had suffered a cardiac arrest.

The "save" was the third one recorded by the REMS since the volunteer
unit was created about 2 1/2 years ago and was the first time the Rice medical
technicians have saved a member of the campus community using a Semi-Automatic
Defibrillator.

REMS Director Mark Escott credited the quick thinking and action of bystanders
at the Shepherd School and the quick response time of REMS for the save.

REMS responded to the scene in less than one minute, Escott said. Bystanders
had already started performing CPR, and REMS volunteers took over upon arrival.
Escott determined that the patient was experiencing a lethal cardiac rhythm
known as ventricular fibrillation and brought the patient into a life-sustaining
rhythm using the defibrillator.

Escott estimates that the Shepherd School professor’s heart had stopped beating
for 4 to 5 minutes until the defibrillator was used. The patient was transported
to a local hospital by the Houston EMS.

"Every link in the American Heart Association ‘Chain of Survival’ was
followed in this situation, and the result was the saving of life of a member
of the Rice community," Escott said.

The chain of survival includes early access to EMS dispatch, early CPR, which
when performed prolongs a patient’s viability until EMS arrives, early difibrillation
and early advanced cardiac life support.

It is important to note, Escott said, that the average response time by the
Houston fire department’s emergency medical service is 13 minutes. Meanwhile,
a cardiac arrest patient’s survival rate decreases by 7 to 10 percent with each
minute that passes before EMS arrives.

For more information about the REMS program call (713) 737-5785.

When a serious emergency situation arises on campus, please call (713) 527-6000
or extension 6000 from campus phones.