For the fourth straight year, Holy Family Memorial has received national recognition for its high-quality care of heart attack patients. HFM was one of only 203 hospitals in the country honored with the American College of Cardiology’s NCDR ACTION Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award. This award is the highest level of the NCDR Action Registry awards and only six hospitals in Wisconsin are at this level.
HFM is in the smallest of the metropolitan services areas for these hospitals with only 81,224 residents whereas other areas start at 134,000 residents and go up to over one million residents. This NCDR award recognizes the success and commitment of hospitals in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients.
Dr. Michael Rosenberg, medical director of the Heart and Vascular Center at HFM, says HFM’s Cardiac Cath Lab—the only 24/7cardiac cath lab in Manitowoc and Sheboygan counties—plays a critical role in continued national recognition for heart attack care. “It’s uncommon for small community hospital of our size to have a cardiac cath lab with 24/7 coverage for heart attacks,” he said. “Spending most of my life in Chicago, I’m really impressed with the efforts made here to provide this level of heart care to residents. It is world class care and I hope citizens know how fortunate they are.”
Michael Wellner, Director of Cardiovascular Services and Specialty Clinics at HFM, who was born and raised in Manitowoc plus worked as a field paramedic, wants the public to know that this award demonstrates HFM’s continued commitment to improving the quality and safety of care provided to heart attack patients.
Interesting facts from Holy Family Memorial about local heart attacks in 2017.
- The ages of patients treated for heart attacks at HFM ranged from 39 to 89—with 68 percent of patients being male.
- Sundays are the most common day for heart attack patients to seek care at HFM.
- Peak times for heart attacks were 6 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
- In 2017, fifty percent of heart attack patients treated at HFM either walked in or drove themselves to the Emergency Department. (Please call 9-1-1!)
“From my experience as a paramedic and now working to provide care in the cath lab, I know that using proven standards of care can save lives,” says Wellner. “We continue to enhance our quality efforts to ensure that heart attack patients get the rapid response and expertise heart care they need—at any time, and day. As a lifelong citizen of Manitowoc, I know how fortunate we are to have this service and appreciate the team of people who are on-call 24/7 to provide this service.”
“It’s interesting to note that heart attacks don’t happen during typical business hours. At HFM in 2017, Sundays were the most common day for heart attack patients to come in and peak times were 6 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.,” added Wellner. “With a 24/7 cardiac cath lab right here patients from Manitowoc and Sheboygan Counties, patients can count on HFM for rapid door-to-balloon treatment time which provides a better chance of surviving a heart attack.”
ACTION Registry empowers health care providers to consistently treat heart attack patients according to the most current, science-based guidelines and establishes a national standard for treating high-risk patients. The treatment guidelines include administering aspirin upon both arrival and discharge, timely restoration of blood flow to the blocked artery, smoking cessation counseling and cardiac rehabilitation.
To achieve the Platinum award, HFM consistently followed the treatment guidelines in the ACTION Registry for eight consecutive quarters and met a performance standard of 90 percent for specific performance measures as outlined by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association clinical guidelines and recommendations.
“This award is great accomplishment and a confirmation of the hard work and effort between our heart care team, Emergency Department, and our local emergency responders,” said Dr. Rosenberg. “These individuals devote their time and hearts to provide the highest level of care and possible outcomes for our patients.”