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  • Wellstar Kennestone Hospital Celebrates 5-Year ECMO Anniversary
Article Category: Highlights

Wellstar Kennestone Hospital Celebrates 5-Year ECMO Anniversary

Published on November 23, 2021

Last updated 02:31 PM November 23, 2021

Illustration showing how ECMO treatment works.

For a half decade and counting, Wellstar Kennestone Hospital has used an advanced treatment called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to provide vital oxygen supply to people when it matters the most.

For the dedicated team members at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, their five-year ECMO anniversary marks more than a milestone. It means saving more lives.

ECMO in action

ECMO is a cutting-edge technology that has been vital in treating critically ill people — like Zac DiGiorgio — whose lungs are in peril and unable to function on their own.

Dr. Asif Saberi, Wellstar medical director of critical care & ECMO, shared how this state-of-the-art therapy works.

“ECMO is a way to provide air to the body when the lungs fail completely,” Dr. Saberi said. The innovative therapy helps removes carbon dioxide from the bloodstream using a machine when the lungs cannot on their own.

“During ECMO, blood is diverted from the body using plastic catheters — called cannulae — which are approximately the size of a garden hose,” Dr. Saberi explained.

“When the blood is redirected from the body, it is ‘cleaned’ of carbon dioxide which the lungs would have done naturally,” Dr. Saberi said.

After that, the re-oxygenated blood is recirculated through the system to supply life-saving oxygen to the body.

People who suffer traumatic injuries are not the only ones benefitting from the high-tech treatment. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, ECMO has also become instrumental in the fight against the virus.

ECMO & the COVID-19 pandemic

Recently, ECMO has been key in caring for COVID-19 patients with the most severe symptoms.

COVID-19 is a respiratory virus, and can affect the lungs and a person’s ability to breathe normally. In fact, the American Lung Association reported that the lungs are the first organ affected by the virus.

Symptoms like shortness of breath and difficulty breathing may appear suddenly and be severe. For the most critical cases, expanding access to ECMO can be a gamechanger.

“Our ability to provide one specific therapy, ECMO, for a significant number of young people in the extreme manifestation of the disease, is possibly the difference between life and death,” Dr. Saberi shared.

By offering ECMO right here in Georgia, Wellstar Kennestone Hospital is helping to save lives and fight back against the virus. And, for us, five years is only the beginning.

To learn more about how our team is providing world-class care for the community, visit the Wellstar Kennestone Hospital page.

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Kennestone Hospital COVID-19 Emergency Care
Pulmonary Care Respiratory Care
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Ashley was able to recover from cardiac arrest and walk down the aisle.

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In March of 2021, Ashley Martin suffered cardiac arrest, which kills about 90% of people when it happens outside of a hospital. Thankfully, she was already at Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center receiving the compassionate care she’d been seeking to address a long list of symptoms.

Everything began at a hectic time in Ashley’s life. She was 30 and had just gotten engaged. Wedding planning had started with the help of her fiancé and their two young boys. The hope had been to have the wedding toward the end of 2021. But the unexpected happened.

“I was always healthy,” she said. “I grew up playing sports. I was a runner. I used to get headaches, but that was the extent of my medical history.”

Finding the right care when there is more than one symptom

Symptoms of what would ultimately be diagnosed as Guillain-Barré syndrome began in February of 2021. This rare neurological disorder causes the body’s immune system to attack the nerves. 

Ashley started experiencing tingling in the tips of her hands and feet, which moved up her legs and arms as days passed. When intermittent numbness became a symptom, Ashley went to a hospital near her Peachtree City home. A clean CT and MRI meant she went home with plans to see a rheumatologist.

As she waited for her first appointment, she started feeling numbness in her feet.

“At one point, I took a step down the stairs and went tumbling down to the concrete floor,” Ashley said. 

On another trip to the hospital near her home, Ashley was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, but treatment was unsuccessful. The numbness continued, spreading to her face. She began using a walker and, soon after, a wheelchair.

“The paralysis had moved to my abdomen,” Ashley said. “I went to sleep one night and woke up abruptly gasping for air.”

Compassionate medical care at a pivotal point

 Later that night, an ambulance brought Ashley to Wellstar Kennestone, where she would finally get the specialized neuro care she desperately needed. She was admitted to the Neurocritical Care unit, staffed by physicians, nurses and a medical team with specialized training in neurological conditions.

Upon arrival, she underwent respiratory failure due to paralysis spreading to her diaphragm. She was stabilized, but shortly after that, she experienced sudden cardiac arrest — the abrupt loss of heart function that stops blood flow to the body.

After a critical care nurse administered CPR, Ashley’s heart started beating again. Life support medications were given to keep her heart pumping.

“The neuro ICU nurses and doctors saved my life,” she said.

Later, her attending neurologist explained that the stress of her nervous system and immune system fighting, paired with respiratory failure, caused such high stress that she had a cardiac arrest.

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Doing good CPR is critical to save someone from cardiac arrest.

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KevinCare

There aren’t many people out there who can say they survived cardiac arrest at 30. Kevin Miskewicz can.

According to the American Heart Association, more than 90% of people who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest die. Those who survive often have permanent neurological disabilities. But Kevin’s story has an incredibly fortunate ending, thanks to the highly coordinated work of his medical experts at Wellstar.

Recovering from cardiac arrest is something Kevin will never forget. It lives forever as a piece of his health history — one that includes a dedicated healthcare team — and his wife, who was the first to save his life.

There aren’t many people out there who can say they survived cardiac arrest at 30. Kevin can.

CPR to the rescue

Kevin woke up on Labor Day 2017 at 5:30 a.m. to take the dog out. Pausing to adjust the thermostat as he came in, he fell, knocking over a lamp.

He was in cardiac arrest.

With no symptoms and no known pre-existing condition, this was unexpected, but that didn’t stop his wife, Andrea, from jumping into action.

“If it weren’t for me knocking over a lamp when I passed out,” said Kevin, “she would have never woken up and saved my life.”

In addition to calling 911 and unlocking the door for the paramedics, Andrea performed CPR for 10 minutes.

“Kevin’s wife doing good CPR was critical,” said Dr. Arthur Reitman, the interventional cardiologist who was a vital part of Kevin’s treatment team at Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center. “More than five minutes of poor blood flow to the brain can result in permanent irreparable injury from which a patient is unable to recover.”

Coordinating multidisciplinary care to save a life

When paramedics arrived at Kevin’s home, he had no pulse and was not breathing. As the paramedics performed their lifesaving work, he technically died two times.

The ambulance took him to Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center, where he was initially assessed and treated by Dr. David Jacoboff. The interventional cardiologist implanted an intra-aortic balloon pump to stabilize him. Then, he transferred Kevin to Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center for highly specialized heart care.

When Kevin arrived at Kennestone by helicopter, his heart function wasn’t strong enough to support his body. Dr. Reitman and a team of doctors including a cardiologist, a pulmonologist and critical care doctors worked in tandem to put Kevin on an advanced life support system called veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Better known as VA-ECMO, it took the heart “offline” so it could heal. The technology removed unoxygenated blood from his body, oxygenated it and pumped it back in for the next three days.

“Very few places in the state — only four or five hospitals — have the technology and specialized training to put a patient on ECMO,” Dr. Reitman explained.

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Exterior photo of Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center. Wellstar, American College of Surgeons and Georgia Department of Public Health logos

Newsroom

Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center Reverified a Level II Trauma Center

Wellstar Health System, which has one of the largest trauma networks in the state, is proud to announce that Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center was again verified as a Level II Trauma Center by the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) and American College of Surgeons (ACS). Wellstar North Fulton has been a Level II Trauma Center since 1987 and was the first in Georgia to be verified by the American College of Surgeons in 2015. This marks the third time the hospital has been designated a Level II Trauma Center, demonstrating its commitment to patients in their time of need.

The option to be verified by the ACS is voluntary and is in addition to the State of Georgia designations. Only a handful of trauma centers are verified by the ACS in Georgia, even though they have state designations.

“This designation represents a unique distinction for a community hospital because it demonstrates we are managing trauma cases according to the highest national standards,” said Mark Gravlee, MD, trauma medical director, Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center. “We are reevaluated by the ACS every three years and continue to meet their rigorous standards, so patients in North Fulton and surrounding communities can rest assured they’ll be cared for expertly and with excellence now and well into the future.”

Wellstar North Fulton’s highly skilled trauma team is ready 24/7 to save lives. Level II Trauma Centers provide 24-hour immediate coverage by general surgeons, as well as coverage by the specialties of orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, radiology and critical care. They also offer trauma prevention and continuing education programs for staff, and a comprehensive quality assessment program. Wellstar North Fulton has board-certified trauma surgeons standing by to offer a heightened level of care.

“We are proud to receive this designation again, and more importantly, to be able to offer the advanced care our patients in Northeast Atlanta suffering from accidents, incidents and injuries need,” said Jon-Paul Croom, president, Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center and senior vice president, Wellstar Health System. “This designation is a shining example of our commitment to deliver world-class care to every patient, every time.”

Other trauma centers across the System include Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center (Level II), Wellstar Cobb Medical Center (Level III), Wellstar West Georgia Medical Center (Level IV), and Wellstar Paulding Medical Center (Level IV). Wellstar’s Trauma Network serves patients across the state of Georgia, and the health system is proud to play a critical role in Georgia’s trauma network, collaborating with peers across the state to ensure patients receive the care they need.

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