CRMC Recognized For Heart Attack Care
Cheyenne Regional Medical Center has received the Mission: Lifeline Gold Receiving Quality Achievement Award for implementing fast, effective care for patients experiencing severe heart attacks, according to spokeswoman Kathy Baker.
She says Mission: Lifeline is a program of the American Heart Association. Its goal is to reduce barriers to quick treatment for heart attacks, beginning with the 9-1-1 call and continuing through hospital treatment.
Mission: Lifeline recognizes referring hospitals, receiving hospitals and emergency medical services agencies for their success in using Mission: Lifeline criteria to improve quality of care for heart attack patients. Mission: Lifeline provides three levels of recognition: gold, silver and bronze. Eligible hospitals must adhere to the program’s measures at a set level for a designated period to receive an award.
CRMC earned the gold recognition by meeting specific Mission: Lifeline criteria and standards of performance for the quick and appropriate treatment of patients having STEMI heart attacks. A STEMI, or ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, is caused by a complete blockage of blood flow to the heart.
Each year in the United States, approximately 250,000 people have a STEMI. To prevent death, it’s critical to immediately restore blood flow, either by surgically opening the blocked vessel or by giving clot-busting medication.
One of the criteria for earning the gold award is for a hospital to have a “door-to-device” time of 90 minutes or less at least 85 percent of the time.
The American College of Cardiology recommends less than 90 minutes for “door-to-balloon” time, the time between a patient arriving at the emergency department and when a balloon device is inflated in the blocked vessel. CRMC has an average door-to-balloon time of about 55 minutes for treating STEMI patients.
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