Cardiac Response Lags in D.C.

Betty Lawson is attended to by Tim Bennet, left, and Adam Corkran. Michael Williams, rear, is chief medical officer for D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services. He sometimes makes surprise appearances to evaluate his staff. To raise the District's response time for cardiac arrest cases, he plans to train government workers in CPR. (By Sarah L. Voisin/Post)
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The District has improved response times and is meeting its target of advanced life support units reaching patients in less than eight minutes 90 percent of the time, Ken Riddle of Abaris said.

But cardiac arrest patients need a faster response time.

Williams has launched initiatives in two critical areas that have proved successful in other cities. The first is CPR training for 24,000 D.C. government workers, using a new DVD from the heart association. A pilot program began with civilian members of his department last month.

Bystander CPR has been key in cities with high survival rates, experts said.

"If you collapse on a sidewalk in downtown Seattle, the next three to five people who come upon you are likely to know CPR," said Johnston, of the EMTs association.

And Williams wants to start calculating the city's true survival rate: How many cardiac arrest victims are able to return to their former lives?

The city is joining a program run by Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that helps track patients from the 911 call through the hospital. Letters were recently mailed to area hospitals to encourage them to release patient data to the program, known as the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival.

EMS directors across the region said sharing patient information between emergency medical agencies and hospitals would help increase accountability and improve pre-hospital care.

"It's like pulling teeth to get patient information from the hospital," said Brian Hricik, EMS operations manager for Alexandria's fire department. "Just because we bring a patient to the hospital with a pulse doesn't mean they survive to discharge. We'd love to know how our medicine in the field translates to survival rates in the hospital."