St. Mary Medical Center Qualifies For Prestigious Award

St. Mary Medical Center qualified for the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline Bronze Quality Achievement Award, according to a news release.

The award recognizes St. Mary’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart-attack patients that effectively improves the survival and care of STEMI (ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction) patients. STEMI refers to a finding on an electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) that indicates a blockage to a coronary artery and potential damage to the heart muscle. 

Every year, nearly 250,000 people experience the STEMI type of heart attack. When this happens, the blockage must be cleared promptly to restore critical blood flow. Unfortunately, a significant number of STEMI patient don’t receive timely access to appropriate treatments.  Mission: Lifeline is focusing on improving the system of care for these patients and at the same time improving care for all heart attack patients. Mission: Lifeline seeks to save lives by improving national quality standards for treating heart attacks.

Hospitals involved in Mission: Lifeline strive to improve care in both acute-treatment measures and discharge measures. Systems of care are developed that close the gap of timely access to appropriate, life-saving treatments. St. Mary has focused on process improvement, parallel processing, and interdisciplinary cooperation and coordination to successfully restore blood flow and minimize damage to the heart muscle, and improve patient outcomes. St. Mary Medical Center is among the most successful hospitals nationwide in performing emergency angioplasty within the optimal time frame in response to a heart attack. The St. Mary Heart and Vascular Center provides emergency interventions 24/7, including cardiac catheterizations and surgical services.

Before they are discharged, appropriate patients also are started on aggressive risk-reduction therapies while they still are in the hospital, such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, aspirin, ACE inhibitors and beta-blockers. And all patients receive smoking-cessation counseling to lower their risk of heart attack.

Hospitals that receive the Mission: Lifeline Bronze Performance Achievement Award have demonstrated for at least 90 consecutive days that eligible STEMI patients (without contraindications) are treated within specific time frames upon entering the hospital, and are discharged following the American Heart Association’s recommended treatment guidelines.

"St. Mary Medical Center is dedicated to making our Cardiovascular Center among the best in the country, and the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline Achievement Award is among the quality distinctions that attest to our commitment to improve patient outcomes," said Thomas Nicosia, Cardiac Service Line Administrator. "We are pleased to be recognized for our dedication and achievements in cardiovascular care."