Doctors at Northwestern Memorial Hospital are the first in Illinois to offer a new treatment for atrial fibrillation, a heart condition that often strikes firefighters.

When Jeffrey Taylor first became a Chicago firefighter, things were very different than they are today.

"When I came on the job, there was no mask, you just went in there," he said. "You weren't a fireman unless you could take smoke. Just get in there, kid."

But years after retiring, he noticed he wasn't feeling right. Doctors did an EKG and diagnosed him with atrial fibrillation, known as AFib.

"When you have AFib, the upper chambers beat in a regular rhythm and the bottom beats in an irregular rate," said Dr. Bradley Knight, cardiac electrophysiologist.

AFib is associated with fighting fires.  Research in the Journal of the American Heart Association shows the more fires people respond to, the higher their risk of AFib.

"There are studies looking at air pollution that show the more particulate matter, the more likely they would have AFib," Knight said.

Taylor first had his AFib treated with a procedure called ablation, which is when doctors create small scars to prevent those chaotic heartbeats.

"I did the ablation and it worked. I was happy with," Taylor said. "Five years later, things weren't right. Sure enough, I was back in AFib."

Then Taylor heard about a new kind of ablation using electricity. It's called pulsed field ablation, or PFA.  Dr. Knight did Taylor's procedure using a tool that delivers shocks internally. Scans of his heart shows the procedure was very successful.

Taylor said he felt better right away. He said the PFA procedure has brought back his energy and changed his life. Now he's telling his fellow firefighters to go get checked out.

"If you have AFib, go see Dr. Knight. He knows his stuff," he said.

Taylor got his procedure in 2024. In the past 18 months, Northwestern Memorial has done more than 900 PFA procedures. Doctors there now use four different kinds of PFA tools depending on the needs of each patient.