University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Helmsley Charitable Trust and Health Care System Partners Aim to Increase Cardiac Arrest Survival Rates
MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb. 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust and health care systems across the Twin Cities, announce the creation of the Minnesota Mobile Resuscitation Consortium (MMRC) and its mobile extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) vehicles. This is a collaborative initiative to treat cardiac arrest as quickly as possible in Minnesota.
The MMRC, made possible by an $18.6 million grant from the Helmsley Charitable Trust, aims to save the lives of cardiac arrest patients in scenarios which traditional resuscitation efforts have failed. Every 10-minute delay in treatment for these patients increases the chances of mortality by 15-to-25%.
"This program carries a message of hope. It is a remarkable effort that brings the University's incredible resources closer to people's homes, giving them a better chance at recovery, and, at the same time, training the next generation of physicians," said Jakub Tolar, dean of the Medical School and vice president for clinical affairs.
In December, specially trained teams began serving people across the Twin Cities by using SUVs equipped with the critical life-support equipment. The SUVs meet the patient at participating emergency departments to be placed on ECMO. This type of heart-lung machine eliminates the need for ongoing CPR and allows physicians to treat the underlying cause of the cardiac arrest.
Since the program's launch, 20 cardiac arrest patients have been served by the MMRC SUV response teams across the Twin Cities — which has exceeded initial expectations. The MMRC health care system partners include M Health Fairview, Regions Hospital (HealthPartners), and North Memorial Health Care System, with contractual partnership for physician services with Hennepin Healthcare and Lifelink III for clinicians. MMRC is the first program of its kind in the U.S. to serve multiple health care systems...