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Responding to life-threatening emergencies
A call that saved a mother’s life
In March, a local mom was helping her 2-year-old daughter get dressed for childcare when she suddenly began experiencing severe chest pains. After searching the symptom on his cell phone, her husband quickly dialed 911 fearing that she was having a heart attack. The woman had no medical history of heart disease and had a healthy delivery with her son just 11 days earlier at Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center.
 Only a few minutes after arriving in the emergency department at Novant Health Matthews Medical Center, the woman became unresponsive and lost her pulse. The emergency room staff shocked her nine times with a defibrillator, but her condition did not improve. She was transported to the catheterization lab and repeatedly shocked again. At last, she began to regain consciousness. Cardiologist Gary Niess, MD, determined that this young mom needed to have emergency open-heart surgery.
She was transported by Novant Health critical care transport to Presbyterian Medical Center where she underwent surgery. It took only one hour and 16 minutes after arriving at Matthews Medical Center for her to be evaluated, treated and transported for open-heart surgery.
To this day, this young mom is thankful to the amazing members of the Novant Health team who helped save her life.
When to call 911
This young woman’s husband can be credited with helping save her life by calling 911 immediately and connecting her with the emergency care she needed. Unfortunately, there are countless stories of loved ones driving heart attack and stroke victims to the hospital or even of victims driving themselves to the hospital.
During medical emergencies every second counts.
Examples of emergencies that require calling 911 are heart attacks, strokes, breathing problems, head and neck injuries and severe bleeding.
After you call 911, an ambulance with paramedics trained in life support will respond. You may tell emergency responders which hospital you want to be transported to.
Why choose Novant Health during a medical emergency
- Recently Novant Health hospitals in Charlotte, Matthews and Huntersville all received accreditation as Cycle IV Chest Pain Centers with PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention, or angioplasty) from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care (SCPC). Cycle IV accreditation is currently the highest offered by the SCPC and emphasizes the importance of standardized diagnostic and treatment programs used in the treatment of patients with chest pain and other heart attack symptoms.
- Our hospitals in Charlotte, Huntersville and Matthews are certified Primary Stroke Centers for their innovative procedures, advanced technology and adherence to rigid treatment protocols; Presbyterian Medical Center was the area’s first hospital to earn this distinction.
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