Difference between life and death
The Golden Hour
The concept of “Golden Hour was first conceived in 1962 in USA by Father of Emergency Medical Response Service- Dr Adams Cowley, when in USA in spite of having best of super specialty hospitals people were dying in road traffic accidents and at homes with medical emergencies like heart attack and stroke in unacceptable numbers.
Something happened in the first hour which due to lack of certain life saving procedures either at the site or home and during ambulance transport, people died either within six hours, or couple of days or even couple of weeks, in spite of reaching best of hospitals in the region.
The most important of life sustenance- Oxygen reaching the cells of the body and organs was not happening due to lack of medical response in the very first hour. Much closer here in India we have so many examples of VIP’s and ordinary people dying unnecessary deaths and worse having to live with life- long disability after stroke due to unavailability of this system. Emergency Medical response Service (EMS) in the Developed world. So the famous EMS service in USA and in other developed world was born in 1966- just as 911 emergency telephone numbers!! The results are already startling. In last four decades people dying of first heart attacks and major injuries in road traffic accidents have been dramatically reducing to present 600% and 800% from the figures when the famous EMS service started in USA in 1966.
The System Approach. So what is that thing which is required within the Golden Hour? What was that one thing which produced such dramatic statistics which saved hearts and brains in developed world due to EMS service? Actually it is not just one thing but a series of well connected services (communication, emergency medical services, transport and hospitals)- like Doctor or Paramedic reaching the spot (either on the road or at home) diagnosing your status, carrying out the necessary life saving procedures and giving medications at the site, transporting the patient to right hospital which is capable and ready to carry out further higher treatment and the critically ill patient receiving attention and treatment while being transported to the admitting hospital