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In collaboration with local EMS, MVHI has established a protocol for treating heart attacks quickly. Each year in the Utica area, there are over 100 patients who are rushed to the catheterization labs at St. Elizabeth Medical Center to receive balloon angioplasty to have clogged coronary arteries opened within a short period of time. This time is measured for each case and is called the “door-to-balloon” time.
The AHA has established 90 minutes as the “door-to-balloon” time goal for treatment. The MVHI is providing the local EMS community with an EKG base station that allows local EMS providers to communicate patients’ EKG readings to local emergency department physicians and cardiologists before the patient arrives at the hospital. MVHI’s most recent data available, for August 2006, shows its average “door-to-balloon” time is 81 minutes.
Dr. Hugh MacIsaac, Director of the MVHI interventional cath labs, says, “MVHI is always ready 24/7 for the next heart attack victim. We want to assure the community that our services have been in place and will continue to be in place, so that these national shortcomings don’t apply to our community. I applaud the efforts to deliver on a national level what we have implemented, and will continue to provide for the residents of the Mohawk Valley.”
Treating a heart attack victim in the Cath Lab is called “primary angioplasty.” This life-saving procedure has been performed in the St. Elizabeth Cath Lab since 2003, when the AHA published guidelines favoring this method of treatment. The “door-to-balloon” time is regularly monitored and any patient having time above 90 minutes is reviewed to determine if there are opportunities to improve.
“In order to save lives during a heart attack, it is important that everyone involved be educated about their roles,” said Halsey Bagg, Co-Coordinator of MVHI. “This includes the patient, EMS and the hospital. The patient’s role is to take chest pain seriously, as well as other symptoms of a heart attack; EMS staff role is to provide EKGs in the field and/or get the patient to the emergency department quickly; and the cath lab team’s role is to be ready and available around the clock, which it is,” Bagg said.
The Heart Institute is an award-winning collaborative program of St. Elizabeth Medical Center and Faxton-St. Luke's Healthcare. It performs more than 1,300 elective and over 100 emergency angioplasties each year. MVHI is now in the process of making primary angioplasty available at its St. Luke’s Campus Cath Lab of Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare as a means of further improving patients’ access to the life-saving procedure.
MVHI also provides coronary artery bypass surgery for those patients whose clogged arteries cannot be repaired in the cath lab. Each year, MVHI performs over 500 open-heart procedures, of which more than 300 are bypass procedures.
Mohawk Valley Heart Institute Emphasizes EMS Relationship
UTICA – In response to the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Scientific Sessions held in Chicago this week, Mohawk Valley Heart Institute (MVHI) stresses the importance of its collaboration with local Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in establishing quality practices for treating heart attack patients. Pre-hospital mortality is one of the major issues noted in the study.In collaboration with local EMS, MVHI has established a protocol for treating heart attacks quickly. Each year in the Utica area, there are over 100 patients who are rushed to the catheterization labs at St. Elizabeth Medical Center to receive balloon angioplasty to have clogged coronary arteries opened within a short period of time. This time is measured for each case and is called the “door-to-balloon” time.
The AHA has established 90 minutes as the “door-to-balloon” time goal for treatment. The MVHI is providing the local EMS community with an EKG base station that allows local EMS providers to communicate patients’ EKG readings to local emergency department physicians and cardiologists before the patient arrives at the hospital. MVHI’s most recent data available, for August 2006, shows its average “door-to-balloon” time is 81 minutes.
Dr. Hugh MacIsaac, Director of the MVHI interventional cath labs, says, “MVHI is always ready 24/7 for the next heart attack victim. We want to assure the community that our services have been in place and will continue to be in place, so that these national shortcomings don’t apply to our community. I applaud the efforts to deliver on a national level what we have implemented, and will continue to provide for the residents of the Mohawk Valley.”
Treating a heart attack victim in the Cath Lab is called “primary angioplasty.” This life-saving procedure has been performed in the St. Elizabeth Cath Lab since 2003, when the AHA published guidelines favoring this method of treatment. The “door-to-balloon” time is regularly monitored and any patient having time above 90 minutes is reviewed to determine if there are opportunities to improve.
“In order to save lives during a heart attack, it is important that everyone involved be educated about their roles,” said Halsey Bagg, Co-Coordinator of MVHI. “This includes the patient, EMS and the hospital. The patient’s role is to take chest pain seriously, as well as other symptoms of a heart attack; EMS staff role is to provide EKGs in the field and/or get the patient to the emergency department quickly; and the cath lab team’s role is to be ready and available around the clock, which it is,” Bagg said.
The Heart Institute is an award-winning collaborative program of St. Elizabeth Medical Center and Faxton-St. Luke's Healthcare. It performs more than 1,300 elective and over 100 emergency angioplasties each year. MVHI is now in the process of making primary angioplasty available at its St. Luke’s Campus Cath Lab of Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare as a means of further improving patients’ access to the life-saving procedure.
MVHI also provides coronary artery bypass surgery for those patients whose clogged arteries cannot be repaired in the cath lab. Each year, MVHI performs over 500 open-heart procedures, of which more than 300 are bypass procedures.