There’s technology out there saving people’s lives, such as cardiac vests. Dwain Spradlin was having a heart attack and found out that he had two arteries that were 99% blocked. Cardiologist, Dr. Boylan, put stents in to open up Dwain’s arteries and he also ordered Dwain a life vest. The life vest is a wearable defibrillator that is worn by patients at risk of sudden cardiac arrest. It’s non-invasive and delivers treatment shocks if an irregular heart rhythm is detected.
8 days after Dwain was wearing his life vest, it saved his life. There was a siren going off and a voice saying ‘you’ve been treated, you need to contact your doctor.’ Dr. Boylan say’s the life vest saved Dwain’s life that day. Dr. Boylan has ordered the life vests for nearly 40 patients, but Dwain was his first patient where the vest actually had to perform it’s job and did it perfectly.
These life vests are being used on patients right here on Delmarva. Dr. Jennifer Eakin, a Non-Invasive Cardiologist with PRMC, joins Jimmy and Lisa to tell them all about the life saving vests. The patient wears a garment on their chest against their skin and they wear a monitor on their waist or in a bag over their shoulder.
The monitor is continuously monitoring the patients heart rhythm. “If it detects a fatal arrhythmia, the device will actually shock the patients heart back to a normal rhythm,” Dr. Eakin says.
Possible Qualifications for Life Vest
- Heart attack
- Bypass surgery
- Congestive heart failure
- Stent placement
