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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville
Is the First Hospital in Metro Atlanta to Receive
Chest Pain Center Accreditation

The Society of Chest Pain Centers has granted the designation of Accredited Chest Pain Center to Gwinnett Medical Center-Lawrenceville, GA for receiving full accreditation from the Accreditation Review Committee on January 25, 2005. Gwinnett Medical Center is the 2nd accredited Chest Pain Center in Georgia and the 92nd in the nation.

" This accreditation is a testimony to the work we do at Gwinnett Medical Center. The services and care we provide are outstanding not only when compared to other institutions within our state, but within the nation," said Philip Cannon, MD, medical director of the Chest Pain Center and GHS Emergency Services.

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 Gwinnett 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 display symptoms of a possible heart attack

"Standards at Gwinnett Medical Center are very high. We are continually moving forward, achieving our goals, and raising the bar above our patients' expectations. We are passionately committed to providing the best possible patient care," said Judy Keller, Service Line Director of Emergency Services at Gwinnett Hospital System.

To learn more about Gwinnett Medical Center, please visit www.gwinnettmedicalcenter.org

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