CHI St. Luke’s Health Memorial Earns Awards for Treating Heart Attack Patients


CHI St. Luke’s Health Memorial is committed to consistent, effective treatment of those suffering from heart attack symptoms in order to save lives and provide enhanced outcomes. As one of only 91 hospitals nationwide, CHI St. Luke’s Health Memorial has received the prestigious American College of Cardiology’s NCDR ACTION Registry–Get With The Guidelines Silver Performance Achievement Award for 2015.

 The award recognizes Memorial’s commitment to a high standard of care for heart attack patients and signifies that Memorial has reached an aggressive goal of treating these patients to standard levels of care as outlined by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association clinical guidelines and recommendations.

 To receive the Silver Performance Achievement Award, Memorial consistently followed the treatment guidelines in the ACTION Registry–GWTG for four consecutive quarters and met a performance standard of 90 percent for specific performance measures. Full participation in the registry drives overall quality of care provided to heart attack patients.

 “The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association commend Memorial for its success in implementing standards of care and protocols. The full implementation of acute and secondary prevention guideline-recommended therapy is a critical step in saving the lives and improving outcomes of heart attack patients,” said James Jollis, MD, FACC, ACTION Registry-GWTG Chair and Professor of Medicine and Radiology at Duke University Hospital.

 The Center for Disease Control estimates that over 700,000 Americans suffer a heart attack each year. Treatment guidelines include administering aspirin upon arrival and discharge, timely restoration of blood flow to the blocked artery, smoking cessation counseling and cardiac rehabilitation, among others.

 “This award reflects the hard work and dedication of the staff that care for some of our most seriously ill patients and their families,” said Shawn Barnett, Memorial Chief Operating Officer and Lufkin President. “The implementation of these guidelines requires successful coordination of the cardiovascular team and emergency personnel, and we’re proud to be among the select hospitals receiving this award.”

 ACTION Registry–GWTG is a partnership between the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association with partnering support from the American College of Emergency Physicians and the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care. ACTION Registry-GWTG empowers health care provider teams to consistently treat heart attack patients according to the most current, science-based guidelines and establishes a national standard for understanding and improving the quality, safety and outcomes of care provided for patients with coronary artery disease, specifically high-risk heart attack patients.

 CHI St. Luke’s Health Memorial also achieved the Mission: Lifeline® Receiving Center- BRONZE Level Recognition Award for treatment of patients presenting to the emergency department with a deadly type of heart attack that is caused by a prolonged blockage of blood supply in the heart, called a STEMI heart attack.

 Cutline: Anita Gottlieb, BSN, MHA, System Director of Quality; Vance Donahoo, RN, BSN, MBA, Interim Cath Lab Director; Sabrina Lillard, RN, CCCC, CV/Stroke Coordinator; John Jennings, RN; Tom Carrington, RN; Melissa Green, RN; Kasey McClelland, RRT, RPSGT, LVN; Julie Warren, RN, BSN, SCRN; Bobby Sims, RTR; Terri Ener, RTR; Mary Beth Ward, RN; Sue Cromeens, LVN; Tamara Jackson, RN; Angelia Venegas, RN, BSN; Lois Overshine, PCT; Christine Hargis, RN; Rhonda Stephenson, RN, BSN; Mark Bryan, RTR/RCIS BSRS; Kyrita Settler, RN; AmyLee Casis, RN, BSN; Holly Stokes, RN; and Kristy Mewborn, CNA.

 About CHI St. Luke’s Health Memorial

Memorial provides more than a quarter of a million patient services each year and has a longstanding history of providing quality, innovative health care in East Texas.

 With hospitals in Lufkin, Livingston, San Augustine and Memorial Specialty – the area’s only long-term acute care hospital – CHI St. Luke’s Health Memorial provides millions of dollars in charity care and community support each year.  Our mission is to nurture the healing ministry of the Church, supported by education and research.  Fidelity to the Gospel urges us to emphasize human dignity and social justice as we create healthier communities.

 Memorial offers a wide array of services, including the area’s first dedicated heart and stroke care facility and radiation oncology at the Temple Cancer Center. It is also known for the area’s only comprehensive diabetes, heart and stroke education center. Other specialty areas include imaging, orthopedic care, women’s services, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, homecare, wound care and hyperbaric oxygen therapy, kidney & diabetes treatment, sleep disorders treatment and express lab.

 About Catholic Health Initiatives

Catholic Health Initiatives, a nonprofit, faith-based health system formed in 1996 through the consolidation of four Catholic health systems, expresses its mission each day by creating and nurturing healthy communities in the hundreds of sites across the nation where it provides care. One of the nation’s largest health systems, Englewood, Colo.-based CHI operates in 19 states and comprises 105 hospitals, including four academic health centers and major teaching hospitals and 30 critical-access facilities; community health-services organizations; accredited nursing colleges; home-health agencies; and other facilities that span the inpatient and outpatient continuum of care.

In fiscal year 2014, CHI provided $910 million in charity care and community benefit – a nearly 20% increase over the previous year – for programs and services for the poor, free clinics, education and research. Charity care and community benefit totaled more than $1.7 billion with the inclusion of the unpaid costs of Medicare. The health system, which generated revenues of almost $13.9 billion in fiscal year 2014, has total assets of $21.8 billion. Learn more at www.catholichealthinitiatives.com.

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