Kim at work after
heart attack

The Big Isle mayor received
two heart stents in a weekend
procedure at Queen's hospital

HILO » Big Island Mayor Harry Kim confirmed yesterday that he had a heart attack last week and was treated for it over the weekend at the Queen's Medical Center.

Harry Kim: Drove himself to a fire station when he began to feel pressure in his chest

He returned to work yesterday and told his staff, "We're just going to work harder to get our things done."

The staff gave him skeptical smiles, Kim said. "I said, 'I mean it.'"

Kim was working at the Civil Defense building Thursday morning when he began to feel bad, with pressure in his chest.

From Civil Defense, he drove himself the short distance to the Central Fire Station, where paramedics put him on an EKG machine to confirm the heart problem and then gave him nitroglycerine, he said.

"From there he was transported to the Hilo Medical Center emergency room, where emergency treatment prevented it from escalating to a major heart attack and causing permanent heart damage," his office said. That same morning he was flown by air ambulance to Queen's.

On Saturday, doctors placed two stents in small blood vessels in his heart. Stents are wire mesh tubes that keep blood vessels open.

Kim flew back to Hilo on Sunday with approval from his doctors to resume work.

Kim said he is in the best condition that he has been in for the past 10 years. His cholesterol is very low, his blood pressure is good, he eats moderately and he exercises every night, he said.

Doctors told him all those factors were what enabled him to ride out the heart attack.