They call it DTB time. It stands for door to balloon time.

Measured from the time the ambulance crew brings the patient through the doors of the hospital until a balloon is in the artery of the patient, it can be critical in saving lives or preventing more extensive damage to heart muscle starved of oxygen rich blood by a coronary artery blockage.

At Henrico Doctors Hospital, Goochland Fire/EMS holds the record for DTB at 23 minutes.

Last Wednesday evening at the Henrico Doctors Lecture Series meeting, two Goochland Fire/EMS crews were honored during the EMS Recognition Program part of the meeting for their quick responses in July.

In two cases, one on July 8 and the next day on July 9, crews used their new technology to transmit diagnostic data to the hospital that allowed their patients to bypass the emergency room and go straight to the catherization lab, where a probe was threaded into the coronary arteries to the point of the blockage. There a “balloon” is inflating, restoring blood flow to the cardiac muscle.

The case on July 9 was particularly difficult, since it involved a contractor working on a house who was unable to give good directions to it. He was in so much pain he “didn’t know where he was,” said the patient, who attended the meeting.

Goochland Sheriff’s Deputy Izzet “Izzy” Murat was first on the scene, eventually joined by Goochland Deputy Emergency Services Director Eddie Ferguson and his wife Beth.

Then, guided by Dispatcher Jewel Jasper, EMS providers Earl Taylor and Paul Smith arrived.

“We saw Big Earl coming down the driveway,” said Ferguson.

Taylor said they gave the patient oxygen and hooked up a 12-Lead EKG.

“He’s having the big one,” Taylor recalled saying as he saw the patient.

They called a STEMI – code for a heart attack. All three catherization tables were in use so the patient had to stay briefly in the emergency room, said Valeta Daniels, EMS Liaison at Henrico Doctors Hospital.

Still the DTB time was 38 minutes versus a national average of 90 minutes, according to Daniels.

One day earlier, EMS providers Daniel Sprouse, Gordon Taylor and Bruce Zirkle set the DTB record time of 23 minutes with another patient suffering an acute heart attack.

Daniels presented Sprouse and Zirkle with a cake decorated with a 23 minute logo to commemorate their accomplishment. Crew member Taylor was unable to attend the meeting.