The Garland Fire Department has achieved the 2015 Mission: Lifeline® EMS Gold Level Recognition Award from the American Heart Association. The award is based on care delivered in 2014, which highlighted Garland Fire Department’s EMS providers as the drivers of improvementsin the outcomes of STEMI (cardiac) patients. STEMI is an ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction; a very serious heart attack during which one of the heart’s major arteries is blocked.
The American Heart Association recognized Garland Fire Department as an EMS agency that delivers thorough education in STEMI identification, provides essential access to 12 lead ECG machines, and develops protocols derived from American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association STEMI Guidelines.
Criteria to achieve Lifeline® EMS Gold Recognition is based on meeting the applicable achievement measures annually for at least two years with no single measure scoring below 75%. Garland EMS met and maintained these measures for Lifeline® EMS Gold Recognition, which demonstrated their ability to implement technical requirements and best practices for a heart patient. The requirement measures are as follows:
- Percentage of patients with non-traumatic chest pain > 35 years of age, treated and transported by EMS who receives a pre-hospital 12 Lead ECG.
- Percentage of STEMI patients transported to a STEMI Receiving Center, with pre-hospital First Medical Contact (FMC) to Device (PCI) < 90 Minutes.
- Percentage of STEMI patients transported to a STEMI Referring Center with Arrival (to Referring Center) to Fibrinolytic Therapy administration in <30 Minutes.
The Lifeline® EMS Gold award was presented to the Garland Fire Department during the Mission Lifeline North Texas Committee quarterly meeting on May 27.
For more information on Garland Fire Department and its emergency medical services, visitGarlandFire.com.