BUFFALO, NY-- In the United States, one million people experience a heart attack every year.
Four hundred thousand people will die from it, and twenty percent never even get to the hospital in time.
Now a revolutionary device, currently in clinical trials, is being tested in Buffalo.
It warns heart patients who have already survived an attack, that a second attack could be imminent.
That in a nutshell it the genesis of a little device called the AngelMed® Guardian.
After the device is surgically implanted, it's only job is to warn previous heart attack patients that they might be experiencing "another" heart attack and to get to the hospital as soon as possible.
When it notices changes in a patient's cardio rhythm it simply vibrates.
Dr. Zaki Masud, Director of the Cath Lab for Kaleida says, "people won't have to ask family, or think it might be indigestion, or something you ate, it says get to the hospital fast."
David Garland, a seventh grade teacher at JFK in Buffalo is the very first patient in New York State to receive the device.
A smoker and diabetic, David had his first heart attack back in July, he ignored the signs back then, but is now being proactive by fully supporting the promises of this potentially life saving device. "Why not get it, it will give me piece of mind, I didn't realize how many people have second heart attacks after a first heart attack, and heart disease is big in my family," says Garland.
The biggest problem for doctors is that many people don't even know they are having a heart attack.
It takes the average person three hours to make up their mind to go to the hospital, but the heart muscle is damaged for good after only 90 minutes.
Dr. Masud says with the global vascular center being developed in Buffalo, bringing in the latest technologies like this device are a high priority.
The trial is limited to only 3,000 patients nationwide and is currently being used in Europe.