Both hospitals were recognized for providing superior cardiac care to patients who suffer from a heart attack or heart failure.
UC Medical Center has received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, and West Chester Hospital has received the Heart Failure Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award. Both hospitals were also named to the AHA’s Target: Heart Failure Honor Roll.
The awards recognize UC Health’s commitment to and success in implementing a higher standard of cardiac care by ensuring that every heart failure patient receives treatment according to nationally accepted recommendations and standards. This is the sixth time UC Medical Center has received the gold award. In 2018, West Chester Hospital received the bronze award.
“At UC Health, we are committed to providing exceptional care to patients who suffer from heart failure and heart attacks,” said Charles Hattemer, MD, clinical chief for the Division of Cardiovascular Health and Disease and professor of clinical medicine at the UC College of Medicine. “This is only possible with a close partnership with first responders and emergency physicians who understand how critical seconds and minutes can be for patients suffering a STEMI. It takes a coordinated and all-out team effort to be successful.”
Every year, more than 250,000 people experience an ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), the deadliest type of heart attack. STEMI is caused by a blockage of blood flow to the heart that requires timely treatment, and it is critical to restore blood flow as quickly as possible either by mechanically opening the blocked vessel or by providing clot-busting medication.
For the care of these patients, UC Medical Center received Mission: Lifeline® Gold Plus Receiving recognition, and West Chester Hospital received Mission: Lifeline® Silver Receiving recognition.
The American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline STEMI Program is aimed at reducing system barriers to prompt treatment for heart attacks, beginning with the 911 call, to EMS transport and continuing through hospital treatment and discharge. The initiative provides tools, training and other resources to support heart attack care following protocols from the most recent evidence-based treatment guidelines.