It takes hardly any time for a cardiac episode to become life-threatening. When a hospital is nearby, patients experiencing sudden cardiac arrest have a chance to get lifesaving treatment quickly, but the situation becomes dire in the rural areas where those treatments are not available — areas that comprise the majority of the Three Rivers Edition coverage area and the entirety of Arkansas.
Through several grants, the White River Health System Foundation has created HeartSmart facilities throughout the system’s footprint by equipping WRHS clinics with automated external defibrillators, also known as AEDs. The system’s clinics that are receiving AEDs include the Cave City Medical Clinic, the Drasco Medical Clinic, the Hardy Medical Clinic, the Pleasant Plains Medical Clinic, the Newport Diagnostic Medical Clinic, the Stone County Primary Care Clinic and the Tuckerman Medical Clinic.
“With this project, our goal was to place AED devices at all of our rural clinics,” said Dana Thomas, WRHS annual giving coordinator. “We were actually awarded three different grants for the project.”
The grants came from the Batesville Walmart Supercenter through the Walmart Local Giving Community Grant Program, the Cleburne County Community Foundation and the National Emergency Medicine Association. The combined grants
totaled more than $9,200.
“We are very grateful for the generosity of the organizations to allow us to bring this much-needed device to clinics in Cleburne, Independence, Jackson, Sharp and Stone counties,” Amanda Roberts, WRHS Foundation director, said in a press release. “They are aiding us in achieving our goal of creating HeartSmart facilities and further aiding in improving the health of our communities.”
Thomas said the WRHS Foundation has wanted to implement this project for a while, and the grants made it possible.
“Someone is more likely to have a cardiac episode while at a physician’s visit,” she said. “It’s all about the timing. Being so far away from the hospital, it’s so important to have this in all of our clinics. … And where we are, it’s not just the distance; it’s the roads.”
Yolonda Reed, an advanced-practice registered nurse at the Pleasant Plains Medical Clinic, said she has worked for WRHS for 20 years and has wanted an AED for the clinic for as long as she can remember.
“We’re the only access to health care that this rural community has,” Reed said. “If they are coming in with chest pain and they are having an arrhythmia, we can start the health care like you’re supposed to. Triage them like you’re supposed to, and get them stable before the ambulance comes to take them to White River
[Medical Center] to save their life.”
The Pleasant Plains Medical Clinic received its AED late last year, and Reed said the staff is up to date on the training and policies concerning the device. She said that fortunately, they have not had to use the AED yet, but it is good to know it is there in case of an emergency.
“It’s just reassurance,” she said.
Thomas said the grants were not able to cover AEDs for all of the clinics. The Newark Medical Clinic and the Melbourne Medical Clinic still do not have AEDs, and the WRHS Foundation is looking for ways to raise the money in order to provide the devices for those clinics.
“We are consistently looking for opportunities to raise money,” she said.
Those who are interested in donating money toward providing two more AEDs for the WRHS clinics may contact Roberts at (870) 262-1927.
Staff writer Angela Spencer can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or aspencer@arkansasonline.com.