Firelands Earns Four American Heart Association Awards

(Sandusky, Ohio) Firelands Regional Medical Center has received four American Heart Association Achievement Awards for implementing quality improvement measures that ensure cardiovascular and cerebrovascular patients receive efficient and coordinated care, ultimately leading to more lives saved, shorter recovery times and fewer returns to the hospital.

This year, Firelands Regional Medical Center received the following achievement awards:

• Get With The Guidelines® - Heart Failure - SILVER PLUS
• Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke - GOLD PLUS
• Mission: Lifeline® - STEMI Receiving Center - GOLD PLUS
• Mission: Lifeline® - NSTEMI - SILVER

The American Heart Association's Mission: Lifeline and Get With The Guidelines programs help reduce barriers to prompt treatment for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke. Firelands' willingness to participate in these programs shows its commitment to improve the quality of care by bringing national standards to our community. As participants in the Mission: Lifeline and Get With The Guidelines programs, Firelands' performance is monitored by the American Heart Association. As a result, the awards recognize Firelands' commitment and practices to improve the quality of care for patients in the community.

"It is an honor to be recognized by the American Heart Association for our efforts towards patient care," said Vice President of Patient Quality and Satisfaction Patty Martin. "Our mission at Firelands Health is to improve the lives we serve. That means, when a patient is brought to our facilities, we want to treat them well, and by the time they are discharged, they will have the resources on-hand to work towards a healthy recovery."

Nearly half of all adults in the U.S. have experienced some form of vascular disease, including heart attack, stroke, and heart failure. Time is critical for patients with conditions that are severe enough to be transported or admitted to a hospital. Measures for all of these achievements include: a quick response to each patient, best practices while under the care of the facility, and education for continued wellness after the patients' discharge.

"Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the American Heart Association's quality improvement programs often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates," said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., national chairperson of the Quality Oversight Committee and Executive Vice Chair of Neurology, Director of Acute Stroke Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

Time matters in both heart attack and stroke situations. STEMI stands for ST-elevation myocardial infarction and is a type of heart attack that completely blocks off blood flow to the heart muscle. NSTEMI is a partial block of blood flow to the heart muscle. A STEMI is the most serious type of heart attack and is best treated as soon as a patient presents any signs. Signs of a heart attack includes: discomfort in the arms or chest, shortness of breath, sweat, nausea, or lightheadedness.
Stroke recognition can best be remembered by the acronym "be fast."

• Balance - look for a sudden loss of balance or unsteadiness
• Eye - notice any changes in vision
• Face - look for facial droop, or an uneven smile
• Arm - look for drifting in outstretched arms or inability to hold arms out
• Speech - listen for changes in speech, slurred words, or inability to speak
• Time - get to the hospital immediately

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About Mission: Lifeline
The American Heart Association's Mission: Lifeline® program helps hospitals and emergency medical services develop systems of care that follow proven standards and procedures for acute coronary syndrome patients. The program works by mobilizing teams across the continuum of care to implement American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology clinical treatment guidelines. For more information, visit heart.org.

About Get With The Guidelines
Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 9 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org.

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