Marietta Memorial Hospital introduces a new way for area cardiac arrest patients to heal.

It's called Therapeutic Hypothermia Treatment.

Starting in March Marietta Memorial Hospital will be among the 50 percent of hospitals in America saving lives with this therapy.

"We need to make sure that we preserve his cellular function as best as possible so that we don't have problems as blood flow and other things are restored and so the cooling helps to preserve those cellular activities so those patients then have a more likely chance of surviving and not having any permanent damage," says the Director of Marketing and PR at MMH, Jennifer Offenberger.

The therapy helps cardiac arrest patients better recover from possible side effects...such as swelling and injury to the brain tissue.

"Every hour that you delay a treatment like this you have the potential of a mortality of 20 percent, so it is very important that the treatment is used appropriately and in a timely manner," explains Offenberger.

The therapy uses hydro gel packs to reduce the body temperature at a slower pace. These packs lower the likely hood of issues whenever blood flow is restored.