Adventist HealthCare Earns National Recognition for Commitment to Quality Heart Attack Care

Gaithersburg, Maryland – Adventist HealthCare’s hospitals in Montgomery County have received national awards for providing rapid, research-based and high-quality care to heart attack patients. Shady Grove Medical Center and White Oak Medical Center have both earned American Heart Association awards. Shady Grove has received the Mission: Lifeline^® STEMI Receiving Center Gold Plus award and White Oak Medical Center has received the Mission: Lifeline STEMI & NSTEMI Gold awards.

Each year, more than 280,000 people nationwide experience a STEMI heart attack, caused by a complete blockage in a coronary artery. Known as the deadliest type of heart attack, the STEMI must be treated in an efficient, timely manner. The NSTEMI is experienced by over 546,000 people a year and is caused by a partial blockage of blood flow to the heart. Both types of heart attacks require medical staff to work as quickly as possible to restore blood flow, either mechanically or by providing medication.

Since 2010, the goal of the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline program is to reduce system barriers to prompt treatment for heart attacks, beginning with the 911 call to EMS transport and continuing through hospital treatment and discharge. Mission: Lifeline recognition is designed to showcase hospitals that provide 24/7 support for patients experiencing STEMI and NSTEMI.

“These awards represent the quality heart care that we have been providing to our community for six decades, said Susan Glover, System Vice President for Adventist HealthCare Heart & Vascular Institute. “I am very proud and appreciative of our physicians and clinicians who are dedicated to providing care to our community.”