TOWER- When Tower Ambulance Director Dena Suihkonen received the invitation to join a panel discussion at a medical conference last week, sponsored by Essentia Health, she had no idea there was an ulterior motive. The annual conference, which focuses on care for heart attack patients, provides continuing education credits for medical professionals.
“I was invited to come down by Richard Mullvain, the Essentia Health STEMI program manager in Duluth,” she said. STEMI is an acronym for patterns seen on an electrocardiogram when a patient is actively having a heart attack.
To her surprise, Suihkonen arrived to learn she was selected by the Essentia staff to receive the STEMI Award for Outstanding EMS Professional, the first time the honor has been given to a member of the Tower Ambulance Service. Essentia also awarded the service a free automated defibrillator device, valued at around $2,000, donated by the PulsePoint Foundation.
“Dena has shown professionalism and going that extra mile over the years on many, many cases,” Mullvain told the Timberjay. “She also made a big difference in the life of a gentleman earlier this summer. She is very resilient, receptive, and always wants to know how to do her job better.”
Mullvain said the award is a chance to recognize all that she has done to keep the ambulance service going for the Tower-Soudan community.
“She is just a class act,” he said, “and a rock star. We are impressed by her tenacity. She has made a big difference. Her loyalty and dedication to her community makes her deserving of this award.”
The award was based on her overall record of care, in addition to care given on a specific ambulance call, which she was reviewing during the panel discussion.
Normally this award goes to a paramedic, Suihkonen, who is an Nationally Registered Emergency Medical Technician, said. This year they gave out two awards for EMS, one to a paramedic in Cloquet, and the second one to her.
While ambulance calls for heart attack symptoms are not that common, Suihkonen said it is a time when the ambulance crew truly has a chance to save a patient’s life, by getting them to a hospital that can treat the patient immediately. In our area, that means getting the patient to Duluth. Sometimes patients do not realize the danger they are in, and are reluctant to go in the ambulance, saying they don’t feel that bad.
Suihkonen was invited to speak about a specific case, when the care provided went above and beyond the immediate medical needs of the patient. “There are things we have done to help get people to take that ambulance ride,” she said. “These are opportunity times for someone suffering a possible heart attack. If you miss this window, patient outcomes suffer.”
At the conference, Suihkonen related an incident involving an out-of-state island resident on Lake Vermilion. He hadn’t been feeling well, Suihkonen said, and was seen at the Scenic Rivers Medical Clinic in Tower. The nurse practitioner did an ECG, and the doctor reading the results felt it looked like a possible heart attack, so the Tower Ambulance was called.
“But he told us he felt too good and nothing was wrong,” said Suihkonen, “and was refusing the ambulance ride.”
Suihkonen talked with the patient. She explained they don’t “get extra points” for convincing a patient to take a ride in the ambulance. With some backup from the nurses at Scenic Rivers, the patient finally agreed to be transported.
“He was concerned about his boat, at the marina at Fortune Bay, which had his tools in it, as well as his truck parked at the clinic,” she said. “I promised him that after I got back from the ambulance call, I would take his truck to the marina, secure his tools from the boat, and then leave his locked truck at Fortune Bay.” In addition, Suihkonen got in contact with the patient’s wife, and promised to keep her updated about his care.
This above and beyond level of care is something you see in small towns, Suihkonen said.
“He couldn’t believe that I would do all that to get him to agree to get treated.”
Both Virginia ALS and a medical helicopter were called. The patient was transported by ambulance and then helicoptered out from the Y Store. He was then treated immediately at the Essentia Heart and Vascular Center, and it was determined he had suffered a heart attack, possibly a few days prior, but was at risk for another life-threatening event if he hadn’t been treated in Duluth.
Suihkonen said she had no idea she was being given an award for her efforts in the case.
“I was recognized because of my skill in doing my job,” said Suihkonen. “Sometimes you wonder if you are good at what you do. But when this large health care system says you are that feels good.”
Suihkonen said Essentia has done many trainings with the Tower Ambulance crew, traveling to Tower to work with their EMS personnel. “They have been champions of our service for a long time,” she said. “Essentia helped us get the grant to purchase our first ZOLL ECG monitor.”
The ambulance service sees six to eight STEMI events a year, Suihkonen said, but that number seems to be increasing since COVID, possibly due to people not having preventive care during that period.
“We’ve taken STEMI patients off of islands and even out of Trout Lake,” she said. “We are catching them and getting them where they need to go.”
The Virginia ALS is always called out to assist on these calls, noted Suihkonen. They are able to start a patient on medication before they arrive in Duluth, which means they can undergo surgery sooner.
“There are medications that need time to get working before a patient can go to the cath lab,” she said. A catheterization lab is where tests and procedures are performed, such as stents (to open clogged arteries), angioplasty, and insertion of pacemakers.

ZOLL AED
The new AED device donated by Essentia will be installed in the lobby at the Lamppa Civic Center, said Suihkonen, which is typically open to the public.
“It is automatic,” she said. “You push a button, and it does it for you.”
While CPR training is important, you do not need CPR training to use this unit. It is also networked into a cell phone application, that notifies anyone nearby who has had CPR training on the location of the emergency.
Suihkonen said it is important for people to realize that “everybody can save a life.”
“You can’t hurt someone if they aren’t breathing,” she said. “The unit will tell you, step by step, what to do. If you don’t try it, they won’t have a chance.” The unit provides text, voice, and visual prompts.
While CPR success rates can be low, Suihkonen said they have brought people back using this equipment.