Fayette County

has just become a better place to have a heart attack.

County Emergency

Medical Technicians now have the capability under strict supervision of

an emergency room doctor at Fayette Community Hospital to administer "clot-busting"

medication in the field to reverse heart attacks.

This cutting-edge

development allows patients to have quicker recovery times and shorten

their expected rehabilitation time to rebuild damaged heart muscle, according

to hospital officials.

Since the program

was implemented, two patients have received doses of the drug from local

EMTs once physicians have determined the medicine is necessary.

"We try

to get the drug in as quickly as we can get it in," said emergency

room Dr. James Robertson, who devised the program with cardiologist Dr.

Nimish Dhruva.

The medicine,

called Retavase, acts quickly to dissolve blood clots in arteries that

cause heart attacks.

But the use

of Retavase by EMTs is closely monitored by physicians at the hospital's

emergency room using the patient's vital signs, medical history and readings

from electrocardiograms that are wirelessly transmitted to the hospital

"in real time" by medics.

"Each

case is taken on an individual basis," Robertson said. "The

final decision to give the drug is left up to the doctor in the emergency

room after he reviews the information he has."

Ryan Duffy

of Fayette Community Hospital pointed out that it took intensive training

for the EMTs to get up to speed on the program, and hospital officials

and physicians felt comfortable that training took hold.

Robertson said

physicians have confidence in the capability of the local emergency medical

service.

Fayette County

deputy Chief Allen McCullough said the program helps the department "take

21st century medicine to the streets.

"The key

to success of this program has been the dedicated EMTs and paramedics

of Fayette County," McCullough said. "I am very proud of each

and every one of them and rest comfortably every night knowing that my

family is protected under their watchful eye."

The Retavase

is being supplied free of charge to the program by its manufacturer, Centocor,

as part of a trial program.