Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Special to the Advance

Atmore Community Hospital (ACH) announced Monday that Lauren Cook, patient care tech in the ER, was awarded the hospital’s Lifesaver Award.

The Lifesaver Award is presented to employees whose actions prevent a potential life-threatening deterioration in the condition of a patient, visitor or fellow employee.

A patient came to the emergency department with complaints of cough, nausea, vomiting and some shortness of breath, according to a release. He was being treated for a sinus infection, but he didn’t seem to be getting better, which led him to seek further medical attention. The patient was connected to the portable vital sign machine to obtain a baseline set of vitals including blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen saturation.

“It was shortly after the patient was connected to the monitor when Lauren noticed that his oxygen saturation waveform was inconsistent and she decided to connect the patient to the monitor’s 3-lead telemetry. Immediately after connecting telemetry Lauren noticed that the patient had an irregular rhythm, which she believed to be consistent with a potentially fatal rhythm known as Ventricular Tachycardia,” said Holly Gipson, hospital ER manager. “Her actions led to a potentially fatal cardiac rhythm being discovered.”

According to hospital officials, Cook notified the nursing staff and the physician immediately. Respiratory was called to perform a 12-lead ECG to confirm this rhythm. The ECG did confirm he was having episodes of Ventricular Tachycardia. The physician ordered medication to be administered right away.

Following medication administration, the patient no longer had episodes of Ventricular Tachycardia and he was transferred to a tertiary facility for further evaluation and treatment.

“Lauren’s special attention to detail afforded our staff the time and opportunity to treat this potentially fatal rhythm before the patient became unstable, or worse,” said Brad Lowery, ACH administrator. “We thank Lauren for helping to provide the best care for our patients.”