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Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ST. RITA'S MEDICAL CENTER RECEIVES CHEST PAIN CENTER ACCREDITATION
Lima , Ohio – June 18, 2004 . The Society of Chest Pain Centers has granted the designation of Accredited Chest Pain Center to St. Rita's Medical Center , making it the fifth facility in Ohio , and 47th in the nation to be accredited.
“We want patients to know when they choose St. Rita's for their care, they are receiving the best cardiac care available with state-of-the-art technology 24-hours a day, seven days a week,” says Dr. Hassan Rajjoub, Medical Director, St. Rita's Chest Pain Center.
“As emergency responders, our job is to stabilize the patient and transport them as quickly as possible to St. Rita's. Because St. Rita's offers immediate intervention through its Chest Pain Center , the patient's chance of survival is much greater and their return to quality of life is
enhanced,” says Brad Harter, President, Lima-Allen County Paramedics. “Residents are fortunate to have such high quality medical care available to them so close to home,” adds Harter.
Heart attacks are the leading cause of death in the United States , with 600,000 dying annually of heart disease. More than five million Americans visit hospitals each year with chest pain. The goal of the Society of Chest Pain Centers is to significantly reduce the mortality rate of these patients by teaching the public to recognize and react to the early symptoms of a possible heart attack, reduce the time that it takes to receive treatment, and increase the accuracy and effectiveness of treatment.
The Chest Pain Center 's protocol driven and systematic approach to patient management allows physicians to reduce time to treatment during the critical early stages of a heart attack, when treatments are most effective, and to better monitor patients when it is not clear whether they are having a coronary event. Such observation helps ensure that a patient is neither sent home too early nor needlessly admitted.
With the rise of Chest Pain Centers came the need to establish standards designed to improve the consistency and quality of care provided to patients. The Society's accreditation process insures centers meet or exceed quality-of-care measures in acute cardiac medicine.
The Chest Pain Center at St. Rita's Medical Center has demonstrated its expertise and commitment to quality patient care by meeting or exceeding a wide set of stringent criteria and completing on-site evaluations by a review team from the Society of Chest Pain Centers. Key areas in which a Chest Pain Center must demonstrate expertise include:
• Integrating the emergency department with the local emergency medical system
• Assessing, diagnosing, and treating patients quickly
• Effectively treating patients with low risk for acute coronary syndrome and no assignable cause for their symptoms
• Having a functional design that promotes optimal patient care
• Ensuring Chest Pain Center personnel competency and training
• Maintaining organizational structure and commitment
• Continually seeking to improve processes and procedures
• Supporting community outreach programs that educate the public to promptly seek medical care if they have display symptoms of a possible heart attack
About St. Rita's Medical Center
St. Rita's is a technologically advanced 453-bed medical center serving residents of West Central Ohio. It is the largest employer in the area with nearly 3,000 employees, 300 physicians and 700 volunteers. St. Rita's is home to The Heart Center at St. Rita's, the regional's first Level II
Trauma Center, only Level II Special Care Nursery and provides comprehensive cancer care, women's health and pediatric services, orthopedics and sports medicine as well as home health care, hospice and occupational health services.
About the Society of Chest Pain Centers
The Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC) is an international professional society focused on improving care for patients with acute coronary syndromes and related maladies. The Society is committed to improving the quality of patient care through protocol-based medicine and the adoption of process improvement science to healthcare. SCPC is headquartered in Columbus , Ohio . For more information, visit www.scpcp.org .
For more information contact Brenda Burgy-Schweizer, Public Relations Director at (419) 226-9802 or bvschweizer@health-partners.org .
For more information on the Society of Chest Pain Centers, please contact Robert Weisenburger Lipetz , Executive Director at (614) 442-5950 or director@scpcp.org .
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