By JOHN GAMBEE
gambee@newsroom.byu.edu
Early detection can save lives and prevent damage during cardiac arrest.
Monte Hauck expected to finish his dinner. Now he is grateful to not have permanent heart damage. Halfway through dinner at a home in Santaquin, where he works to rehabilitate young men, Hauck began experiencing severe pain in his chest.
He left the dining area of Ascent County Residential in Mona and took refuge in the office.
'It almost felt like heartburn coming right up where your rib cage stops at the base of your neck,' Hauck said. 'Then it moved through my chest, up the back of my neck and down both arms.'
Don Carter, 61, of Mona, who teaches vocational classes and runs the kitchen at the home, noticed that Hauck was hurting. Carter noted that Hauck was not speaking and appeared to be in severe pain.
'He could not eat or nothing. I asked him if he was having pain in his neck or arms,' Carter said.
When Hauck responded that he was, Carter asked if he wanted to go to the hospital.
Hauck, who rides Harleys and said he has a high tolerance for pain, told Carter he didn't want to seek medical attention.
Carter returned a few minutes later and saw that Hauck continued suffering.
'I said, 'You're going to the hospital,'' Carter recounted.
Carter says that he knew it was not indigestion when he saw Hauck crying.
'I didn't even cry when I crushed my leg in a Harley accident,' Hauck said. 'When I was sitting at the table, it hurt enough to bring tears to my eyes.'
Hauck's anguish was the result of a build up of pressure in his arteries and heart. At the time, one of his primary arteries was nearly eighty percent occluded. Others were severely clogged.
Within hours of checking into the emergency room in Nephi, Hauck had been sent in an ambulance for immediate surgery at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo.
Though he did not suffer a full-blown heart attack, the term for his accident is an angina attack, and it could have been much worse.
'See, when you have a heart attack, your body disperses an enzyme in your blood that permanently damages the heart muscle,' Hauck said.
Carter's notice of heart attack symptoms and insistence on seeking medical attention may have saved Hauck from extensive damage.
The American Heart Association believes such quick attention could lower the incidence of severe heart damage and lower the number of deaths.
In celebration of American Heart Month in February, the Association is launching a three pronged attack on heart disease.
The 'Be a Heartsaver!' campaign involves teaching people the warning signs of a heart attack, encouraging individuals to call 9-1-1 immediately and giving CPR.
According to the AMA, nearly 95 percent of Americans who undergo cardiac arrest die before reaching the hospital. This equates to 700 deaths each day across the nation.
If the cardiac arrest response rate could be improved in each community, the number of lives saved could reach hundreds of thousands per year, according to the AMA.
The three steps are the AMA's 'chain of survival' for cardiac arrest brought on by heart attack, electrocution, drowning, respiratory arrest, choking or trauma.
Students interested in taking CPR courses offered by the AMA should call 1-877-AHA-4CPR or visit their Web site.
The importance of learning CPR correctly is augmented by a recent study reviewed on KSL TV in Salt Lake City.
According to the report, 15 percent of doctors and nearly 30 percent of lay people could not tell whether a person was unconscious or not.
This is problematic because performing CPR on someone who is conscious can be dangerous.
Paul Heaton, of the American Red Cross, said, 'You can stop the heart, you can cause injury to internal organs or possibly bruise or break ribs.'
However, when done correctly, the abc's of CPR can prolong a person's chance at survival.