If you believe you’re having a heart attack call 911. Tell the operator "I think I'm having a heart attack." Time lost is heart muscle lost. You will delay your treatment if you drive yourself to the hospital. The paramedics can begin treatment as quickly as possible once they reach you.
Listen as Deaun Handlang, RN discusses what you should do if you think you or a loved one is having a heart attack.
Selected Podcast
Early Heart Attack Care
Featured Speaker:
Deaun Handlang, RN
Deaun Handlang is a registered nurse and Texoma Medical Center’s Chest Pain Coordinator. Transcription:
Early Heart Attack Care
Melanie Cole (Host): If you believe you’re having a heart attack, call 9-1-1. Tell the operator, “ I think I’m having a heart attack.” Time lost is heart muscle lost. You can delay your treatment if you drive yourself to the hospital and the paramedics can begin treatment as quickly as possible once they reach you. My guest today is Deaun Handlang. She’s a Registered Nurse and Texoma Medical Center’s Chest Pain coordinator. Welcome to the show, Deaun. People experience chest pain for many different reasons --stress, anxiety, gas – when do you concern yourself with chest pain? When do you know it’s something that you need to be concerned about?
Deaun (Guest): You need to be concerned about chest pain whenever it progressively gets worse, it doesn’t get any better, when it’s accompanied with other symptoms, such as a feeling of fullness, or jaw pain, excessive fatigue, nausea, shortness of breath. Also, it’s worse whenever you start walking or with exercise.
Melanie: And what about for women, because we hear that chest pain and even heart attack symptoms can be different from women than men?
Deaun: Women’s symptoms are often atypical symptoms. Men usually have symptoms, such as chest pain, left jaw pain, left arm pain. Women usually will have the more atypical symptoms, such as the excessive fatigue, the nausea, feeling like they have, maybe some reflux, shortness of breath. They often think that they have another illness and not having chest pain.
Melanie: If you truly believe that this is something based on the symptoms you’ve described, that might possibly be a heart attack, what is the first thing that you do?
Deaun: The first thing that you want to do is you want to call 9-1-1. That’s going to activate the EMS and they are going to come out to you and pick you up and take you to the hospital. You will always want to call EMS because you want to survive and you don’t want to drive. It’s very important to call EMS. They can do so much in the field to get things started. They can draw your blood, they can take your vital signs, they can do EKGs, they can get some of the medications started that could improve your survival rate.
Melanie: And what about Aspirin, Deaun? People have heard, “Oh, if you think you’re having a heart attack or a stroke, take an Aspirin right away.” Is that true?
Deaun: Yes, ma’am, the Aspirin can help prevent the occlusion that is in your heart from getting worse and it is a good medication for prevention of heart attack as well.
Melanie: So if you’re with somebody that you love and they think that they are having a heart attack, or you suspect they are – you’ve called 9-1-1, maybe even given them an Aspirin -- if they do start having a heart attack, just speak to us about CPR a little. What’s going on in the world today with CPR?
Deaun: Okay, so if someone you know from teenager to adult, suddenly collapses from cardiac arrest, which would be if you fell and you were unresponsive – and most often that’s caused by a cardiac issue -- you would start hands-only CPR. Hands-only CPR is a type of CPR that does not involve mouth-to-mouth. You want to do 100-120 compressions per minute in the center of the chest, but you always want to make sure that before you start anything that you check for responsiveness and call 9-1-1.
Melanie: That’s very good advice, Deaun. And what can they expect to happen -- you mentioned that EMS can get the medications started and such -- what can somebody expect if they get taken to the Emergency Room with a suspected heart attack?
Deaun: When EMS picks you up, they are going to do your vitals, they’re going to talk to you about what your symptoms are and then they’re going to do an EKG on you that looks at your heart and tells us whether you’re having an acute MI or not. They can often draw blood. They give medications such as Aspirin, Morphine, Oxygen, and Nitro. They place the Oxygen on you and get you to the hospital. The EMS is able to alert the hospital if you are having an acute heart attack and that way the hospital is able to get the people there needed to open the occlusion in your heart.
Melanie: Is a heart attack something that can cause long-term disability?
Deaun: Yes, Ma’am. A lot of times you see people who wait until the damage is already done to their heart and they can have long-term effects, such as congestive heart failure, they have permanent damage to the heart, that heart muscle – anytime that you have a heart attack and it’s an occlusion to the coronary artery, that part of the muscle will die. It does not get reestablished blood flow to it.
Melanie: And why do you think that some patients don’t benefit from optimal medical advances, or that they deny thinking that they are having a heart attack. Have you seen that happen?
Deaun: Yes, Ma’am, there are so many times that people think that they have the flu, or they have pneumonia. The symptoms, such as feeling a fullness, anxiety, nausea, back pain, shortness of breath, these are things that are often associated with so many other illnesses. Many people will hold off on going to the emergency room because they think that they just have the flu or they think that, “I may have some reflux because I just ate some spicy food,” or “this is just an illness, I’ll get better.” They just put it off and really it’s a life-threatening condition.
Melanie: So how would they know, Deaun, if they’re going to have a heart attack, would anybody know, or does it happen as a surprise? In many instances, is there something that would predispose people, let them know that they might be at risk for heart attack?
Deaun: A lot of times it does come as a surprise because people just do not pay attention to the warning signs, but most often there are risk factors. If you have a family history of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, being overweight or obese, having a sedentary lifestyle -- just not moving around a lot, doing exercises -- uses tobacco products, metabolic diseases such as diabetes and other illnesses. For women, it puts them at a higher risk if they use birth control pills or they had a history of pre-eclampsia.
Melanie: So as far as prevention, do you have some advice that you’d like to give listeners about possibly preventing a heart attack in the first place?
Deaun: Yes, you need to quit smoking, if you smoke, or using any kind of tobacco products. You need to try to quit. There are several ways of learning to stop smoking out there today. You need to decrease your stress, whether it’s at work or in the home, find ways to do stress management. A family history is hard because there’s not way to change your family history, but you need to realize that if you have a family history and you’re overweight, try to exercise and get to a normal weight. If you have high blood pressure, you need to go to your family physician and try to get your blood pressure under control and just know the warning signs and know the signs and symptoms so that if you have them you can get immediate care.
Melanie: In just the last few minutes, Deaun, what should people who might be at risk for a heart attack think about as very important information? Wrap it up for us with what you said somebody should do if they think your loved one might be having a heart attack.
Deaun: Most of the damage to the heart occurs within the first two hours of a heart attack, so knowing the early signs and symptoms and being aware that that could potentially be a heart attack and not waiting to call 9-1-1 is the most important thing that I could say because it really is going to save someone’s life.
Melanie: And why should they come to Texoma Medical Center for their care?
Deaun: Texoma Medical Center is an accredited facility with the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care. This is just a accredited body that comes in and surveys the hospital to make sure that we are meeting all of the standards to best take care of the heart attack patient.
Melanie: Thank you, so much, for being with us today. You’re listening to “TMC Health Talk” with Texoma Medical Center. For more information, you can go to TexomaMedicalCenter.net, that’s TexomaMedicalCenter.net. Physicians are independent practitioners who are not employees or agents of Texoma Medical Center. The hospital shall not be liable for actions or treatments provided by physicians. This is Melanie Cole, thanks, so much, for listening.
Early Heart Attack Care
Melanie Cole (Host): If you believe you’re having a heart attack, call 9-1-1. Tell the operator, “ I think I’m having a heart attack.” Time lost is heart muscle lost. You can delay your treatment if you drive yourself to the hospital and the paramedics can begin treatment as quickly as possible once they reach you. My guest today is Deaun Handlang. She’s a Registered Nurse and Texoma Medical Center’s Chest Pain coordinator. Welcome to the show, Deaun. People experience chest pain for many different reasons --stress, anxiety, gas – when do you concern yourself with chest pain? When do you know it’s something that you need to be concerned about?
Deaun (Guest): You need to be concerned about chest pain whenever it progressively gets worse, it doesn’t get any better, when it’s accompanied with other symptoms, such as a feeling of fullness, or jaw pain, excessive fatigue, nausea, shortness of breath. Also, it’s worse whenever you start walking or with exercise.
Melanie: And what about for women, because we hear that chest pain and even heart attack symptoms can be different from women than men?
Deaun: Women’s symptoms are often atypical symptoms. Men usually have symptoms, such as chest pain, left jaw pain, left arm pain. Women usually will have the more atypical symptoms, such as the excessive fatigue, the nausea, feeling like they have, maybe some reflux, shortness of breath. They often think that they have another illness and not having chest pain.
Melanie: If you truly believe that this is something based on the symptoms you’ve described, that might possibly be a heart attack, what is the first thing that you do?
Deaun: The first thing that you want to do is you want to call 9-1-1. That’s going to activate the EMS and they are going to come out to you and pick you up and take you to the hospital. You will always want to call EMS because you want to survive and you don’t want to drive. It’s very important to call EMS. They can do so much in the field to get things started. They can draw your blood, they can take your vital signs, they can do EKGs, they can get some of the medications started that could improve your survival rate.
Melanie: And what about Aspirin, Deaun? People have heard, “Oh, if you think you’re having a heart attack or a stroke, take an Aspirin right away.” Is that true?
Deaun: Yes, ma’am, the Aspirin can help prevent the occlusion that is in your heart from getting worse and it is a good medication for prevention of heart attack as well.
Melanie: So if you’re with somebody that you love and they think that they are having a heart attack, or you suspect they are – you’ve called 9-1-1, maybe even given them an Aspirin -- if they do start having a heart attack, just speak to us about CPR a little. What’s going on in the world today with CPR?
Deaun: Okay, so if someone you know from teenager to adult, suddenly collapses from cardiac arrest, which would be if you fell and you were unresponsive – and most often that’s caused by a cardiac issue -- you would start hands-only CPR. Hands-only CPR is a type of CPR that does not involve mouth-to-mouth. You want to do 100-120 compressions per minute in the center of the chest, but you always want to make sure that before you start anything that you check for responsiveness and call 9-1-1.
Melanie: That’s very good advice, Deaun. And what can they expect to happen -- you mentioned that EMS can get the medications started and such -- what can somebody expect if they get taken to the Emergency Room with a suspected heart attack?
Deaun: When EMS picks you up, they are going to do your vitals, they’re going to talk to you about what your symptoms are and then they’re going to do an EKG on you that looks at your heart and tells us whether you’re having an acute MI or not. They can often draw blood. They give medications such as Aspirin, Morphine, Oxygen, and Nitro. They place the Oxygen on you and get you to the hospital. The EMS is able to alert the hospital if you are having an acute heart attack and that way the hospital is able to get the people there needed to open the occlusion in your heart.
Melanie: Is a heart attack something that can cause long-term disability?
Deaun: Yes, Ma’am. A lot of times you see people who wait until the damage is already done to their heart and they can have long-term effects, such as congestive heart failure, they have permanent damage to the heart, that heart muscle – anytime that you have a heart attack and it’s an occlusion to the coronary artery, that part of the muscle will die. It does not get reestablished blood flow to it.
Melanie: And why do you think that some patients don’t benefit from optimal medical advances, or that they deny thinking that they are having a heart attack. Have you seen that happen?
Deaun: Yes, Ma’am, there are so many times that people think that they have the flu, or they have pneumonia. The symptoms, such as feeling a fullness, anxiety, nausea, back pain, shortness of breath, these are things that are often associated with so many other illnesses. Many people will hold off on going to the emergency room because they think that they just have the flu or they think that, “I may have some reflux because I just ate some spicy food,” or “this is just an illness, I’ll get better.” They just put it off and really it’s a life-threatening condition.
Melanie: So how would they know, Deaun, if they’re going to have a heart attack, would anybody know, or does it happen as a surprise? In many instances, is there something that would predispose people, let them know that they might be at risk for heart attack?
Deaun: A lot of times it does come as a surprise because people just do not pay attention to the warning signs, but most often there are risk factors. If you have a family history of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, being overweight or obese, having a sedentary lifestyle -- just not moving around a lot, doing exercises -- uses tobacco products, metabolic diseases such as diabetes and other illnesses. For women, it puts them at a higher risk if they use birth control pills or they had a history of pre-eclampsia.
Melanie: So as far as prevention, do you have some advice that you’d like to give listeners about possibly preventing a heart attack in the first place?
Deaun: Yes, you need to quit smoking, if you smoke, or using any kind of tobacco products. You need to try to quit. There are several ways of learning to stop smoking out there today. You need to decrease your stress, whether it’s at work or in the home, find ways to do stress management. A family history is hard because there’s not way to change your family history, but you need to realize that if you have a family history and you’re overweight, try to exercise and get to a normal weight. If you have high blood pressure, you need to go to your family physician and try to get your blood pressure under control and just know the warning signs and know the signs and symptoms so that if you have them you can get immediate care.
Melanie: In just the last few minutes, Deaun, what should people who might be at risk for a heart attack think about as very important information? Wrap it up for us with what you said somebody should do if they think your loved one might be having a heart attack.
Deaun: Most of the damage to the heart occurs within the first two hours of a heart attack, so knowing the early signs and symptoms and being aware that that could potentially be a heart attack and not waiting to call 9-1-1 is the most important thing that I could say because it really is going to save someone’s life.
Melanie: And why should they come to Texoma Medical Center for their care?
Deaun: Texoma Medical Center is an accredited facility with the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care. This is just a accredited body that comes in and surveys the hospital to make sure that we are meeting all of the standards to best take care of the heart attack patient.
Melanie: Thank you, so much, for being with us today. You’re listening to “TMC Health Talk” with Texoma Medical Center. For more information, you can go to TexomaMedicalCenter.net, that’s TexomaMedicalCenter.net. Physicians are independent practitioners who are not employees or agents of Texoma Medical Center. The hospital shall not be liable for actions or treatments provided by physicians. This is Melanie Cole, thanks, so much, for listening.