Three minutes. That’s how much time doctors at MountainView Hospital believed they had to save Fannie Bell’s life.
There wasn’t enough time to get her to the operating room — so they brought the operating room to her.
In a remarkable race against time, a team of emergency physicians, surgeons, anesthesiologists and nurses performed a rare heart procedure right in the ER minutes after the patient arrived, saving Fannie’s life.
Today, she has made a full recovery and is back to being a wife, mother, grandmother and friend.
Here are some quotes from those involved:
Scott Scherr/Regional Medical Director
“Emergency department thoracotomies are a rare occurrence, and the survivability is about 5%.”
“Without the collaboration of the nursing staff, the surgeon, anesthesiologist, the quick work of the emergency medicine physician, Dr. Osborne, all the nurses and the collaboration, this patient would not have lived.”
Dr. Aaron Osborne, Emergency Physician, MountainView Hospital
“Dr Chow advised me that she could have the OR ready in about 25 to 30 minutes and I said, I don’t think we have that, I think we have like 3 minutes.”
“It is unusual to have someone have that kind of rapid decline and be able to intervene and really make a difference.”
Dr. Nelly Chow, Cardiothoracic surgeon, MountainView Hospital
“We should do whatever we can to save the patient regardless of the atmosphere we’re in.” In a sterile operating room or down in the emergency room, we have the talent and technique to take care of the patient.”
“She didn’t have the time to go up to the operating room, so we brought the operating room to her.”
