Webb’s blood flow was restored 19 minutes after Daisy Mountain Fire Department paramedics whisked him through the door of the Deer Valley Emergency Department.

In casual conversation, there’s not much difference in sound between “nineteen” and “ninety.” But for a heart attack patient, the 71-minute difference is as huge as Webb’s widow maker. The irony is that Webb was not at high risk for a heart attack. He has a healthy lifestyle, exercises regularly, eats a lot of fruits and vegetables and takes medicine to control his cholesterol. He should have been fine. But while playing tennis last summer with a friend, Webb suddenly and uncharacteristically felt tired. He took a break, got some water and decided he just needed to quit for the day. The courts are only a couple of blocks from his home, so he walked toward his house. Halfway home, he began to experience chest pain and by the time he got home, he was definitely uncomfortable.

“It started in the back of my neck, went into my left arm and into my chest,” he said. “I tried sitting down and lying down, and neither seemed to help. So I called 911.” Webb’s wife, Casey, was amazed: “The fire department arrived in less than three minutes. They knew right away what was wrong with Keith. The paramedics gave him spray nitroglycerin and baby aspirin, and they whisked him away in the ambulance to the hospital.”

Because Daisy Mountain Fire Department’s emergency vehicles are all equipped with wireless EKG machines, they were able to transmit Webb’s coronary information to the Deer Valley Hospital Emergency Department, where physicians determined he was definitely having a heart attack. That eliminated time that would otherwise be necessary to run those tests in the Emergency Department.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Casey Webb said. “When we got to the hospital, the medical team was standing there waiting for us, and they raced Keith to surgery.”

They took him to the cath lab, where Dr. Nguyen and the cath lab team implanted three stents to open Webb’s artery and restore blood flow through the heart.

The 19 minutes that elapsed between Webb’s arrival and restoration of coronary blood flow is the current hospital record. “We have such a great cath lab team, and the procedure went very smoothly,” Dr. Nguyen recalled.
Once the procedure was complete, “I felt better almost immediately,” said Webb, who only spent one night in the hospital before he was ready to return home. “Even though the heart attack was pretty severe, there was no damage to my heart.”

By Oct. 1, Webb was back at work at the Anthem WalMart, where he is a merchant supervisor. “I absolutely feel good now,” Webb said.

“Not only am I back at work, but I’m active again, getting out, going to the gym to lift weights and walking our dogs.”

Visit JCL.com/heart for more information.