Of all the lifesaving equipment paramedics carry, a miniature refrigerator may seem a little low-tech. 

But it could save your life if you have a heart attack.

“Every one of our trucks has an IV pump,” Kevin Mifflin of the MCHD said. “It’s nothing more than a cooler that you’d have in your truck. It keeps IV solution chilled.”

Montgomery County is the first in Texas to install the little coolers in all of its ambulances.

But why?

Cold IV solution can induce mile hypothermia.  The cold saline lowers a victim’s body temperature five to six degrees.  That’s just enough to preserve brain tissue and heart muscle, giving patients a better chance of making a full recovery.

“Hypothermia is a technique that will be very useful in salvaging brain performance and neurological recovery if it cam be implemented very quickly,” Dr. Vincent Aquino, a cardiologist at Woodlands North Houston Heart Center, said.

MCHD finished equipping its ambulances last week.

While doctors say cold saline improves recovery by 40-60 percent, paramedics are hoping it stops damage from heart attacks cold.