A heart attack is when an artery is blocked. Symptoms include chest or upper body discomfort such as pressure, squeezing or pain, shortness of breath and nausea.
A cardiac arrest is when there's an electrical short circuit and there is no blood pumping through the body. Symptoms include sudden loss of responsiveness and difficulty breathing.
Dale St. Louis has no history of heart conditions and his recent check-up shows he is healthy, but
His life was saved by life vest.
A doctor’s visit may be an inconvenience for some people, but for 65-year-old Dale, it's a necessary part of life.
In November, the Lugoff man had a heart attack while driving, lost control of his truck and crashed.
"Don't remember much other than waking up upside down in a truck," said Dale.
Another driver stopped to help. Dale was taken to the hospital where he spent 10 days. He was eager to go home, but his doctors weren't eager to let him go.
Dr. Venk Gottipaty is with the South Carolina Heart Center. He says Dale’s heart attack weakened his heart muscle.
"In those people there's good data to suggest, a first wearable defibrillator that will save lives," said Dr. Gottipatty.
"When you're a patient you want to go home. I was thinking if I put this vest on me maybe it will help,” said Dale.
Dale was cleared to go home, but Gottipaty insisted he wear this external defibrillator called the "life vest" while he waited for the Medicare-mandated time period to pass for an implantable one.
Days after his release Dale suffered a second attack.
"The last thing I recall, I was looking for a score. I don't remember much from there," Dale said.
The vest is what doctor's say saved Dale. He lost consciousness and the vest went into action delivering a shock that converted his heart to a normal rhythm.
An alarm alerted family members and Dale was rushed back to the hospital. Doctors say he experienced 40-seconds of cardiac arrest and 6-seconds of death. The life vest brought him back to life.
Now two months later Dale has been fitted with an implantable defibrillator, but he says without life vest, he wouldn't be here.
It will be six months before Dale is "back to normal".
Life vest is credited with saving more than 100 people, Dale included.
Electrodes on the vest detect life-threatening, abnormal rhythms, alerts the patient and delivers a shock.
It's the first of its kind.
