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Patient Stories - Samantha Kankelfitz
Pregnant woman and her unborn baby survive cardiac arrest
Samantha and her healthy baby girl, Serenity Joy
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In February, Samantha Kankelfitz, six months pregnant, was walking with a friend in
St. Cloud when she collapsed and had a cardiac arrest. Her heart had stopped beating. Her friend did not know CPR but called 911 and hailed a passing car. A person in the car stopped and performed bystander CPR until St. Cloud police arrived and took over chest compression.
Because Samantha was in St. Cloud, she received a unique treatment that includes CPR and the use of a device called the ResQPOD, which doubles circulation to the brain as well as to the heart. The device, along with an automated external defibrillator (AED), is carried in all first-responder vehicles in St Cloud, thanks to the Take Heart St. Cloud program through the Central Minnesota Heart Center at St. Cloud Hospital. |
St. Cloud police department members performed CPR for several minutes according to the American Heart Association Guidelines that includes the ResQPOD and then shocked Samantha’s heart. She had a pulse but was comatose when Gold Cross Ambulance arrived and transported her to St. Cloud Hospital. At the hospital, she was treated with therapeutic hypothermia since she remained comatose. Her body was cooled to 92.3 degrees Fahrenheit for 24 hours to help preserve brain function. After she awoke, two days after the arrest, her cardiologist implanted a defibrillator in her chest to protect her from a potential cardiac arrest in the future. She was discharged several weeks later, totally intact, and delivered a healthy baby girl named Serenity Joy on July 11 at St. Cloud Hospital.
Samantha and her baby were part of a historic save and would not be with us today without the efforts of the Take Heart St. Cloud program. She is the first pregnant woman in the world to receive treatment with the ResQPOD and only the third pregnant woman to be cooled.
Since Keith Lurie, MD, helped to start Take Heart St. Cloud in 2005, the overall survival rates in cardiac arrest patients have increased from nine to 17.5 percent. Intensivist Scott Davis, MD; Roberta Basol, director of Intensive/Surgical Care and Clinical Practice; and clinical staff in the CCU and ICU at St. Cloud Hospital also are credited for the success of the program.
St. Cloud is part of the national demonstration project, Take Heart America, which includes Austin, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; and Anoka County in Minnesota. The program is currently being expanded throughout the State of Minnesota because of the successes in the first four sites. |
Samamtha with Intensivist Scott Davis, MD
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CentraCare Health Foundation
1406 Sixth Avenue North
St Cloud, MN 56303
Phone: 320-240-2810
Toll-free: 800-835-6652, ext. 52810
Fax: 320-255-6691
E-mail: foundation@centracare.com
Executive Director
Mark Larkin
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