Andalusia Health has received Chest Pain Center Accreditation from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care (SCPC), the accrediting arm of the American College of Cardiology, the hospital announced this week.

The SCPC evaluated Andalusia Health’s ability to assess, diagnose and treat patients who may be experiencing a heart attack. For area patients, that means that strict criteria are in place aimed at:

• Reducing the time from onset of symptoms to diagnosis and treatment

• Treating patients more quickly during the critical window of time when the integrity of the heart muscle can be preserved

• Monitoring patients when it is not certain that they are having a heart attack to ensure that they are not sent home too quickly or needlessly admitted to the hospital

Amy Herrington, director of emergency services, said much of the work to achieve accreditation focused on community education.

“We began looking at the data of patients and tracking the time between the first signs and symptoms of a heart attack and their calls to 911,” she said. “The average was 431 minutes.”

More than seven hours was too long, so hospital personnel got to work on community education.

Herrington and local cardiologist Dr. Greg Price began doing awareness presentations.

“We also partnered with the local ambulance services, and taught hands-only CPR,” she said. “We also talked about calling 911.”

The result is a dramatic change in the statistics.

“The times were down to 78 minutes (between symptoms and 911 calls),” she said. “That’s a drastic change.”

Dr. Price said, “We realize, that will be an ongoing thing.”

As the hospital staff was participating in their educational components, one of the things they talked about was how to educate others.

“We got people trained to wear seat belts by talking to kids in schools,” she said. “So we’ve talked about how we can teach your younger generation, so they can recognize the signs and encourage their grandparents or parents to call an ambulance.”

Because every patient experiences symptoms differently, and some are admitted for further tests or observations, the established protocols address standards for the entire hospital stay, Price said.

Price said one thing hospitals in small communities have to overcome is the perception that they need to get to a “big” hospital.

“Our certification says that we provide the exact care as Baptist-Pensacola or UAB,” he said. “This is a reassurance for potential patients.

“We are limited on things we can do, but we hope to get the steps in place so that in due time we can expand our services,” Price said. “This is the first step.”

Andalusia Health CEO John Yanes had high praise for the team that completed the accreditation process.

“Earning Chest Pain Center accreditation is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our clinical team, our community partners and the SCPC, who have been working collaboratively to ensure our hospital is prepared to provide high quality care to patients when heart attacks strike,” Yanes said. “Andalusia Health’s top priority is to provide quality healthcare close to home, and this accomplishment demonstrates one of the many ways we continually work to enhance and improve our service.”