Heart equipment boosts health

By Kelly Yates
CASEY Hospital has scored two new electrocardiograph machines (ECG) in an effort to provide better heart care for the growing population in Melbourne’s southeast.
The hospital received the machines after more than $40,000 was raised by businesses and partners at Monash Heart’s Golf Day fundraising event last November.
A Southern Health spokesperson said a 12-lead ECG machine was an essential piece of equipment for a cardiologist when seeing a patient for the first time or in a review, and was used to perform the basic first test on all cardiac patients of all ages.
The machine is able to pick up damage to the heart from a heart attack and also tells cardiologists the exact heart rhythm a patient has or if the patient is suffering from a slow heart arrhythmia or life threatening fast heart rhythm.
For doctors, it is also one of the primary methods used to diagnose a heart attack in someone experiencing chest pain.
Doctor Wally Ahmar said staff at Casey Hospital were pleased to receive the new equipment which was now up and running at the hospital.
“By having the machines in the office, the doctor does the test and can immediately read the trace,” he said.
“In rare occasions a serious problem can be diagnosed straight away and immediate action taken to help the patient.”