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Area health care workers practice working with a defibrillator at a recent ACLS training session.

TAHLEQUAH, OK - For every minute after cardiac arrest, a heart attack victim loses 10 percent of his or her viability of life. For local medical professionals, advanced training to save those lives has historically required substantial travel and fees.

Due to the high cost and complexity of teaching Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Cherokee Nation Emergency Medical Services helped develop the Northeastern Oklahoma ACLS consortium group, which consists of W.W. Hastings Hospital, Tahlequah City Hospital and Ambulance Service, Muskogee Regional Medical Center, Muskogee VA Hospital, Muskogee County EMS, and McAlester Regional Health Center and CNEMS. The purpose of this group is to provide high quality training at a minimal cost.

"Prior to implementing this group, all healthcare providers were required to travel extensive distances and pay a substantial fee just to obtain this valuable training," said Bill Humphrey, CNEMS training director. "Healthcare providers are now able to attend this valuable training that is easily accessible and affordable."

Cherokee Nation EMS Training Program recently hosted an Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) class for many local healthcare providers involved in the consortium. The course is designed to improve the skills and knowledge of any provider and an evaluation so that trainees can improve. The course consists of a series of clinical cases, skill stations and large and small group discussions.

The core of the ACLS courses is the evaluation and management of the first 10 minutes of an adult in cardiac arrest. All participants will be challenged to treat many different abnormal heart rhythms and will be responsible for implementing the appropriate therapeutic treatment for each given condition. The primary focus is to teach a single rescuer to manage a patient alone for several minutes, performing basic CPR. As the training continues, each healthcare provider will be required to initiate further advanced treatment, such as appropriate medications that coincide with the patient condition or implement aggressive airway procedure.

"As health professionals, the driving force behind our work is the desire to provide high quality care", Humphrey said. "Unfortunately these efforts often collide with fiscal restraints."

Humphrey says that health care practitioners find themselves being pulled in many directions by managed care and regulatory agencies’ reporting requirements.

"Administrators respond by asking us to broaden our base of knowledge and skills," Humphrey said. "As the number of services provided multiplies, so do our educational needs. That’s why this sort of training is so important. Providers on every tier find help in the educational programs offered by the Cherokee Nation EMS."

The Northeastern Oklahoma ACLS consortium group has been a proven instrument in the delivery of high quality education to the communities that provide healthcare. There have been other organizations across the state of Oklahoma that have expressed interest in how to set-up their own consortium group.

"Through many years of success, the Cherokee Nation EMS Training Program has proven its value in delivering high quality education not only to Native Americans, but also to our community," Humphrey said. "It is our desire and hope here at the Cherokee Nation EMS training program to continue the delivery of high quality training, and reinforce the love of learning which is so crucial to our professional growth and development. Improving our basic and advanced life support skills and supporting efforts to increase the number of individuals who provide them serves the best interest of the entire community."