FAYETTEVILLE – Cumberland County EMS and Hoke County EMS have received the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline® EMS Gold Plus Award for 2019. The honor is for implementing quality improvement measures for the treatment of patients experiencing severe heart attacks.
Every year, more than 250,000 people experience an ST-elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI), the deadliest type of heart attack. They are caused by blood flow blockage to the heart and require immediate treatment.
Blood flow must be restored as quickly as possible, either by mechanically opening the blocked vessel or by providing clot-busting medication.
The Mission: Lifeline® Initiative provides tools, training and other resources to support heart attack care based on the most recent evidence-based treatment guidelines. The initiative also recognized emergency medical services for their efforts to improve care to rapidly identify suspected heart attacks and to promptly notify treating medical centers and their awaiting hospital personnel.
“Cumberland County EMS is dedicated to providing the best emergency medical service in the country, not just the region or state,” said Mark McLaurin, Cumberland County EMS Director, “so we’re honored to have achieved this monumental recognition.”
This is the sixth-consecutive year the EMS department has been recognized by the Mission: Lifeline® program. Cumberland County EMS received Silver recognition in 2014, Gold in 2015 and 2016, and Gold Plus for 20017 through 2019.
Hoke County EMS has been recognized for five consecutive years. The EMS department received Bronze in 2015, Silver in 2016, Gold in 2017, and Gold Plus in 2018 and 2019.
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 www.heart.org.