Riverview Medical Center Receives American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline Silver Quality Achievement Award for heart attack care

Neptune, NOVEMBER 25, 2013 — Riverview Medical Center has received the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline® Silver Receiving Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes Riverview Medical Center’s commitment and success in implementing an exceptional standard of care for heart attack patients.

Each year in the United States, nearly 300,000 people have a STEMI, or ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, the most severe form of heart attack. A STEMI occurs when a blood clot completely blocks an artery to the heart. To prevent death, it’s critical to immediately restore blood flow, either by surgically opening the blocked vessel or by giving clot-busting medication.

“Riverview Medical Center is dedicated to making our cardiac unit among the best in the country, and the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline program is helping us accomplish that by making it easier for our professionals to improve the outcomes of our cardiac patients,” said Aristotelis E. Vlahos, M.D., Medical Director, Invasive Cardiology at Riverview Medical Center.  “We are pleased to be recognized for our dedication and achievements in cardiac care, and I am very proud of our team.”

Riverview Medical Center is part of Meridian Cardiovascular Network.  Physicians and caregivers in the Network provide people the most complete, most coordinated care in the region from prevention and wellness to diagnosis and treatment through rehabilitation and home services.

Hospitals involved in Mission: Lifeline are part of a system that makes sure STEMI patients get the right care they need, as quickly as possible. Mission: Lifeline focuses on improving the system of care for these patients and at the same time improving care for all heart attack patients.

As a “STEMI Receiving Hospital,” Riverview Medical Center meets high standards of performance in quick and appropriate treatment of STEMI patients to open the blocked artery. Before they are discharged, patients are started on aggressive risk reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, aspirin, ACE inhibitors and beta-blockers and they receive smoking cessation counseling if needed. Hospitals must adhere to these guidelines-based measures at a set level for a designated period of time to be eligible for the achievement awards.