Beebe Healthcare receives AHA's Mission: Lifeline Silver Award

Beebe Healthcare has been awarded the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline Quality Achievement Award for heart attack care.

The award recognizes the swift action taken by Beebe’s multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses and other emergency personnel when treating a patient with symptoms of a heart attack. It was presented during a team member celebration recently.

Beebe, which has provided heart attack care since 2007, has a Heart Code team made up of representatives from Cardiac and Vascular Services, the Emergency Department; Respiratory Care, Quality and Sussex County Paramedic services who meet regularly to assure coordinated emergency care for the heart patient.

Since January 2011, the average time from the moment a patient arrives at Beebe’s medical center in Lewes experiencing a heart attack to that patient's receiving the medical care needed to restore blood flow to the heart is 59 minutes. This is well below the 90-minute or less time frame considered as the national standard.

“The team follows national protocols of quality and safety,” said Ehtasham Qureshi, MD, director of interventional cardiology and one of three Beebe Healthcare board-certified interventional cardiologists. “We strive for 100 percent compliance with all guidelines.”

The Silver Award is the highest honor Beebe was eligible to receive at this time. Hospitals involved in the program for more than two years are eligible for the gold award. Beebe will be eligible for gold next year.

To qualify for the award, Beebe Healthcare had to adhere to best practice patient care guidelines for more than one year, including the use of aggressive risk-reduction therapies such as cholesterol-converting enzyme inhibitors and beta-blockers.

“This award recognizes the hard work, training, and coordination between so many of our team members involved in the care of heart attack patients,” said Kevin Bristowe, MD, FACEP, Beebe Healthcare’s medical director for Emergency Services. “We are constantly striving to improve our care while meeting the strictest guidelines for heart attack care.”

Bristowe was joined during the award presentation by Qureshi, Executive Director of Beebe’s Cardiac and Vascular Services Lynn Amey, MHA, RN-BC, and members of the Heart Code team.

For more information, go to www.beebehealthcare.org.