State-of-the-art life-saving vehicles are ready to serve the western subway 24/7. Mobile ECMO trucks provide specialized care for cardiac arrest patients. It is the first time in the world to appear on the street.
Dr. Demetris Yannopoulos said: , Professor and Director of the Center for Resuscitation Medicine at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine.
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Its size is impressive and it is equipped with technology usually only found in some hospitals. Designed from the ground up with the help of multiple experts, it has the power and durability to provide mobile cardiac care in the most extreme weather.
At the heart of the vehicle is an ECMO machine. ECMO stands for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, which keeps blood flowing when the heart or lungs fail.
A first for Edina, this vehicle is equipped for rapid response to cardiac arrest patients (KSTP).
“We can take over the patient’s circulation by inserting tubes into the patient’s veins and arteries, removing blood, oxygenating it, and pumping it back under pressure,” Yannopoulos explains. “In effect, this bypasses the heart and lungs.”
He said, “You have everything you need to survive for a few days, but in this case, it gives us the stability to take care of everything else the patient needs.
Based in Edina Fire Station since May. Paramedics undergo extensive training to support medical teams performing procedures.
“We are thrilled to be part of a program like this,” said EMS Chief Ryan Quinn. “They have worked head-on and worked hard.
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When the call comes in, a team of 2-3 paramedics will move to the designated location. Quinn explained that a custom lift would be used to put the patient in a vehicle, where Yiannopoulos or another doctor would work with a Lifelink medic to perform the procedure.
“The folks at Edina Fire will be front-side creating drugs and prepping all the equipment so that you can carry out the procedure with as much support as possible,” Quinn said.
Once the patient is connected to the ECMO machine, they are transported to an ambulance. The patient goes to the hospital while the ECMO truck returns to the fire station for cleaning and restocking.
They have treated 6 patients so far. Because of this breakthrough technology, ambulances are now waiting for trucks in the Southdale Hospital parking lot, with backup resources nearby. According to Quinn, after treating a few more patients, it will be ready to head into the community.
“We’re going to take this further south, west, northwest, and in a direction where we can increase the number of people we support with this,” Quinn said. , I hope that the program will grow and that more programs will emerge across the country.”
Yannopoulos came up with the idea in 2017. The engineer started building the truck in 2019. The vehicle took about a year and a half to build, after which the pandemic delayed its launch.
This is a continuation of ongoing work by the Minnesota Mobile Resuscitation Consortium that launched a fleet of mobile ECMO SUVs in 2019. The MMRC team will rush the ECMO machine to the nearest hospital to the patient.
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“It’s a very unique program. It relies on collaboration between multiple health systems and hospitals and cannot be easily replicated without the willingness of the community to really come together,” said Yannopoulos. I’m here. “What we saw was that we were able to save her 40% of patients.”
The new truck takes this response a step further by contacting patients directly. It also extends her ECMO access throughout the West Metro.
“There are no hospitals that can really work that far,” he said. “There are very large suburban populations living in the West, Northwest and Southwest that can benefit from this.”
This is a joint initiative funded by an $18.6 million grant from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust and in-kind donations from industry and private donors, according to the University of Minnesota School of Medicine. Other recognized donors are Zoll Medical, Stryker Emergency Care, Getinge Incorporated, and General Electric. Health system partners include Fairview Health Services, Regions Hospital (HealthPartners), North Memorial Health Care System; M Health Fairview, Health Partners, U of M Physicians, Hennepin Healthcare, Life Link III for clinicians; There is a contractual partnership for physician services. .
