Former nurse, Rosemary Lockhart’s life was saved at Lowell General Hospital’s cardiac catheterization lab (cath lab) after she experienced a serious heart attack, known as a STEMI.
Rosemary Lockhart, 78, woke up from a sound sleep last November with terrible chest pain. At first, she thought she slept wrong, but her pain wasn’t going away.
“I thought this is not right; this isn’t getting better,” said the Lowell resident.
It was 6 a.m. on a Saturday, and the 6 people she lives with were all asleep upstairs. Lockhart, whose bedroom is in the basement, couldn’t get out of bed or alert anyone about what was happening.
She called 911 and told them she needed someone to get to her house. As soon as the paramedics arrived, they took an electrocardiogram (EKG) of her heart to check its rhythm and diagnose her condition. The EKG showed that her heart was being deprived of oxygen-rich blood. She was having a heart attack. The paramedics immediately gave her aspirin and put her on an IV.
Lockhart said she was “in a daze” but remembers her heart rate and blood pressure were very low, and she was in a “shock situation.” Her life-threatening condition, called cardiogenic shock, is when the heart is unable to pump enough blood to the rest of the body.
She knew something was seriously wrong based on how the paramedics were acting.
The paramedics drove Lockhart to Lowell General Hospital and called in a ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction or STEMI alert. The alert signals the cardiac catheterization laboratory (cardiac cath lab) to prepare for a patient who is experiencing a STEMI or a serious, life-threatening heart attack. A STEMI occurs when a major coronary artery is 100 percent blocked and requires immediate treatment.
Lockhart, who was diagnosed with coronary artery disease and had a “couple of bouts of chest pain” several years ago requiring her to be placed on a statin, said she knew she was having a heart attack but didn’t know what kind. She realized that severe chest pain and vomiting combined with low blood pressure put her at risk for a “major problem.”
“I stopped being upset once they got there,” said the former Lowell General Hospital nurse supervisor. “I knew that the cardiac cath lab team and staff would do whatever needed to be done to get my condition under control.”
Dr. Omar Ali was the on-call interventionist and met Lockhart in the emergency department. Lowell General Hospital’s cardiac cath lab is a specialized unit that treats heart conditions and is next to the emergency department.
When she arrived in the cardiac cath lab, Dr. Ali inserted catheters into her groin rather than the usual wrist approach due to her shock condition. First, a temporary transvenous pacemaker was placed to improve heart rate and blood pressure. Then, tubes that carry a small balloon and stent were used to open the blocked artery. In total, 3 stents were placed in Lockhart’s right coronary artery.
Lockhart said she was in the intensive care unit by 10 a.m., and by 4 p.m., she was moved to intermediate care.
“I kept saying to myself, ‘What happened? It was all over and done with so quickly; I don’t even feel like I had something happen,’” she said.
The care Lockhart received at Lowell General Hospital was “amazing.” She said that the cardiology department and Dr. Ali were wonderful, and she was impressed by everything that had been put in motion before she arrived.
“I just kept saying, ‘I called the ambulance at 6, and I was in the cath lab by 7,’” she said. “They have that STEMI down to a science.”
Lowell General Hospital’s Heart and Vascular Center is accredited by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) in cath lab with angioplasty (PCI) procedures. The cath lab team, in collaboration with the emergency rooms, is above the ACC national benchmarks for STEMI “door to balloon” treatment times, which saves heart muscle.
“The program, which was developed more than 20 years ago, serves patients in the Merrimack Valley and many surrounding communities who do not have access to an advanced cardiovascular center and cardiac cath lab. Lowell General Hospital is well-equipped and staffed to manage patients with all forms of acute, subacute and chronic heart disease,” said Dr. Ali.
“A patient like Rosemary, who may or may not survive the hour or day, is exactly whom we work to ensure delivery of prompt and comprehensive treatment to,” said Dr. Ali. “I would go so far as to say that our Lowell General Hospital culture (paramedics, ER, cath lab, ICU, cardiac step down and cardiac rehabilitation) has been uniquely developed, maintained and cultivated to care for patients exactly like Rose. We are very geared to STEMI patients, and that often starts with our paramedics.”
Lockhart agrees.
“The care was excellent. I really had no concern about their care at all,” she said. “Really and truly.”
In December, after laying low for a little while (no driving, heavy lifting, shoveling, vacuuming, etc.), Lockhart started cardiac rehabilitation at the Saints Campus of Lowell General Hospital, where she rides a bike or walks on the treadmill for an hour twice a week. Tufts Medicine’s cardiac rehab programs are here to help you get on track after heart surgery or a cardiac event. Learn how personalized exercise and nutrition plans are helping Rosemary and others in our community regain their health and live heart-healthy lifestyles.
“You can go exercise and get that heart rate up and realize nothing is going to happen to you,” said Lockhart.
