Plum EMS recently received recognition from the American Heart Association for its efforts to improve the treatment of patients with severe heart attacks.

The ambulance company was given the AHA’s Mission: Lifeline EMS Silver Plus Award.

The program is designed to showcase EMS organizations across the nation for excellent STEMI care — Segment Elevation Myocadrial Infarction, according to the AHA’s website.

Heath officials said a STEMI is the most severe type of heart attack caused by a blockage of blood flow to the heart.

More than 250,000 people experience a STEMI each year.

The Mission: Lifeline provides tools, training and other resources to support heart attack care following protocols from the most recent evidence-based treatment guidelines.

There are bronze, silver and gold EMS awards. The latest were based off 2019 statistics.

“EMTs and paramedics play a vital part in the system of care for those who have heart attacks,” said Tim Henry, chairman of the Mission: Lifeline Acute Coronary Syndrome Subcommittee. “Since they often are the first medical point of contact, they can save precious minutes of treatment time by activating the emergency response system that alerts hospitals to an incoming heart attack patient.

“We applaud Plum EMS for achieving this award in following evidence-based guidelines in the treatment of people who have severe heart attacks.”

Treatment for such heart attacks includes aspirin, producing electrocardiograms and use of nitroglycerine to help open blood vessels.

Plum EMS Director of Operations Brian Maloney credits his team of paramedics and EMTs for meeting and exceeding AHA standards of care and always treating patients with professionalism.

“They work incredibly hard day in and day out,” Maloney said. “They face unique and stressing challenges. We like to shoot for excellence.

“We know we’re not perfect, but we give feedback on a routine basis to improve the overall outcome of the patient. We’re very proud to get that recognition.

“(Meeting and exceeding expectations) is something that we’ve been doing for quite a while now. As long as things go the same way next year, we’ll be at the gold level. We’re going to keep striving for excellence and keep moving forward.”

The award is a first for the department, which had previously never applied for it.

Maloney said Forbes Hospital and UPMC East in Monroeville are the two go-to hospitals for his department whenever someone suffers a heart attack. He said they have great communication with both hospital staffs.

More information about the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline is available at heart.org.

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