Emergency calls for cardiac arrest are up in Milwaukee County. How a data dashboard can help identify gaps in response

Milwaukee County officials hope that a new, public dashboard with cardiac arrest data will lead to changes that improve responses to cardiac emergencies and ultimately save more lives.

The dashboard is being launched by Milwaukee County's Office of Emergency Management, at a time that EMS agencies in the county are experiencing higher call volumes than before the pandemic, including more calls for sudden cardiac arrest.

"Since 2020 and each year moving forward, we've seen a nearly 25% increase in sudden out-of-hospital cardiac arrests," said Dr. Ben Weston, Milwaukee County's chief health policy advisor, at a press conference Tuesday at Fiserv Forum.

Sudden cardiac arrest occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating and often is caused by irregular heart rhythms, called arrhythmias.

In 2022, EMS agencies in Milwaukee County responded to a little over 1,200 calls for sudden cardiac arrest, according to the dashboard.

Nine out of 10 people who have a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital die, often within minutes. But rapid intervention, including chest compressions, or CPR, can dramatically improve someone's chances of surviving.

"A major goal of Milwaukee County ... is to get more folks doing bystander CPR," Weston said.

Weston and other county officials hope that the dashboard helps in identifying gaps in responses to cardiac arrests and then putting strategies in place to try to close those gaps.

Black or Hispanic patients, for instance, are much less likely than white patients to receive bystander CPR or have an automated external defibrillator, or AED, applied during a cardiac arrest, the dashboard shows. Both interventions can dramatically improve someone's chances of surviving, Weston said.

That could inform where the county's Office of Emergency Management deploys educational teams to teach people how to use CPR if they see someone having a cardiac arrest.

"To get the most return on our investment, we want to send (educators) to the communities that have the highest levels of cardiac arrest, the lowest levels of bystander CPR," Weston said.

The dashboard shows that most out-of-hospital cardiac arrests — about three in four — occur in someone's home. Close to 30% were witnessed by a bystander.

Weston recommended that if you see someone in cardiac arrest, call 911, start CPR and send someone to find an AED.

The increase in EMS calls for cardiac arrest likely has to do with a number of factors. More of the county's cardiac arrest calls are related to opioid overdoses than previously, said Dan Pojar, director of the EMS Division within the Milwaukee County Office of Emergency Management.

Other factors include lack of access to primary care during the COVID-19 pandemic and an increase in mental health needs, he said.

The dashboard also shows other information, including average ambulance response times, percentage of patients who were given CPR by a bystander and cardiac arrest rates by census tract and by race or ethnicity.

Besides government agencies, health agencies, and fire departments, the dashboard also can be used by community organizations and businesses to inform how they prepare for cardiac emergencies, Weston said.

"We know that health events occur everywhere," he said. "No matter where you are, you can have a cardiac arrest. You can have a stroke, you can have a heart attack."

Fiserv Forum was recognized at Tuesday's press conference as an "example organization" that is prepared for medical emergencies. The arena, home to the Milwaukee Bucks, has AEDs on every floor and has first aid supplies and other equipment spaced throughout the building, Pojar said.