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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Licking Memorial Hospital-Newark, OH
Receives Chest Pain Center Accreditation

Newark, OH - December 6, 2004. The Society of Chest Pain Centers has granted the designation of Accredited Chest Pain Center to Licking Memorial Hospital (LMH), Newark, OH, making it the 11th accredited Chest Pain Center in Ohio and the 82nd in the nation.

“This accreditation verifies the great care that we offer to the community,” said Renee Mallett, Vice President of Quality and Acting Emergency Department Director. “There is a team of specialists that includes the squads, LMH Emergency Department staff, cardiologists, nurses and the support staff working together with the same procedures. We all work together to provide the best possible care.”

“ We are extremely pleased to receive this accreditation and we want the community to feel confident that they will be assessed immediately and treated based on best practice by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology guidelines,” said Patty Merrick, Cardiac Nurse Practitioner and Chest Pain Center Coordinator. “If they arrive soon enough, we may be able to avoid unnecessary loss of heart muscle and associated problems such as death or chronic heart failure.”

“Time is heart muscle,” said Dr. Debra Heldman, Cardiologist and Chief of Staff at Licking Memorial Hospital. “The sooner the patient places a call that he or she is having chest pain, the quicker the appropriate treatment plan can be activated. Every minute that treatment is delayed, more damage is done to the heart.”

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 Licking Memorial Hospital, Newark, Ohio, 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 display symptoms of a possible heart attack

“Patient safety is our number one priority at Licking Memorial,” said Bill Andrews, Licking Memorial Hospital President. “We constantly strive to provide a safe environment and protect our patients. This accreditation is one more piece of evidence that we are providing the best possible care for the community. We are pleased with the quality and talents of the staff and their dedication to the patients and the institution."

About Licking Memorial Hospital
Licking Memorial Hospital has served the medical needs of Licking County residents since its founding in 1898. The 231-bed facility utilizes nearly 150 staff physicians and more than 1,200 additional clinical and support staff to meet the community's health care needs. Licking Memorial Hospital has been named one of the nation's Top 100 Hospitals for a sixth consecutive year. For more information, visit www.LMHealth.org. or contact Carol Hutchison, Public Relations at (740) 348-1564 or chutchison@LMHealth.org

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