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First responders in Frisco and Plano have a new mobile cardiac care program that provides a more advanced version of CPR.
The program launched as a partnership between Medical City Plano and Frisco in April, according to a Medical City Healthcare news release.
The details
The new Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, or ECPR, program allows first responders to use technology on patients experiencing a heart attack, respiratory failure or cardiogenic shock.
Frisco’s emergency services department is working with Plano’s Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, or ECMO team and local first responders to prepare for a patient’s arrival and start treatment faster.
The ECMO system needed for the ECPR program is available at a few hundred hospitals nationwide, according to the release, including at Medical City Plano, Medical City Children’s Hospital and Medical City Fort Worth. The expanded care allows the mobile ECPR program to reach a wider range of patients.
“When a person experiences cardiac arrest, whether at home, at work or in the community, every minute matters,” Medical City Frisco CEO Ken Stevens said.
The background
Medical City Plano has partnered with Plano Fire-Rescue for first responders to provide ECMO therapy since December 2022, according to the city. Medical City Plano received a Platinum Level Center of Excellence award from the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization in 2025. Less than 50 ECMO programs have reached platinum level, according to the center.
Medical City Frisco is the first hospital in Frisco to offer this level of care, per the release. This ECPR program is the only mobile program in North Texas and the first nationwide to reach multiple cities, according to the release.
