Community emergency medical services providers now have another way to help save lives. Rockingham Memorial Hospital donated 16 heart monitors to local rescue squads Tuesday.

The machines serve a dual purpose as defibrillators and perform a 12-lead EKG. With this ability, EMS can tell the hospital exactly what to prepare for before the patient arrives.

According to doctors, the actual EKG is sent to the hospital via bluetooth technology to save valuable minutes.

RMH officials say having these devices in the field can save a lot of time. In the past, EKG tests were done at the hospital and then the necessary doctors were called to perform the next step. Now teams of doctors can be assembled while the patient is on the way to the hospital.

Donald Hall was taken to RMH in November as a heart attack patient from Augusta County. He says he is very grateful that the Augusta County EMS had this technology.

Pointing to the EKG, Hall says, "This machine, you might say, probably saved my life, as well as you know Dr. Pollock and his crew. I got to the hospital and it all happened so fast. The next thing I knew Dr. Pollock was explaining what he was going to do."

EMS squads in Bridgewater, Broadway, Elkton, Harrisonburg and Singers Glen have received these units.

"This is great, these machines really do save lives," says Hall.

Some of the squads had units before, but now a majority of the vehicles can be equipped with the technology.

For the third year in a row, HealthGrades ranked RMH number one in Virginia for coronary intervention procedures and doctors say this donation will make them faster and even better.