The American Heart Association has designated Arcadia’s Methodist Hospital as a Mission: Lifeline Receiving Center Silver Performance Achievement Award Hospital. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to and success for heart attack patients in implementing a higher standard of care that effectively improves the survival and care of STEMI (ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction) patients.
“Methodist Hospital is dedicated to making our cardiac unit among the best in the country, and the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline program helps us accomplish that by making it easier for our professionals to improve the outcomes of our cardiac patients,” said Dennis Lee, president and CEO. “I am pleased that our physicians, nurses and other clinicians are being recognized for their dedication and achievements in cardiac care.”
Every year, almost 250,000 people experience the STEMI type of heart attack. Unfortunately, many don’t receive prompt reperfusion therapy that is critical in restoring blood flow. Mission: Lifeline seeks to close the gaps that separate STEMI patients from timely access to appropriate treatments. Mission: Lifeline focuses on improving the system of care for these patients and ultimately improving care for all heart attack patients. Hospitals that are involved in Mission: Lifeline strive to improve care in both acute treatment measures and discharge measures.
Hospitals that receive the Mission: Lifeline Silver Performance Achievement Award have demonstrated for 12 consecutive months that at least 85 percent of eligible STEMI patients are treated within specific time frames upon entering the hospital and are discharged following the American Heart Association’s recommended treatment guidelines. To be designated as a STEMI-receiving hospital, a hospital must have the equipment, expertise and facilities to administer percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), a mechanical means of treating heart attack patients. Although PCI is the preferred means of treating STEMI patients, only 25 percent of hospitals in the country are equipped to do so. These PCI-capable hospitals – like Methodist Hospital – are called STEMI-receiving hospitals because they are well equipped to receive and treat STEMI patients.
— By Scott Hettrick