The American Heart Association presents the Mission: Lifeline® EMS achievement award for proven dedication to ensuring access to best practices and life-saving care.
Acadian Ambulance has received three American Heart Association Mission: Lifeline® awards for its commitment to offering rapid and research-based care to people experiencing the most severe form of heart attacks and strokes, ultimately saving lives.
Acadian’s North Louisiana operations earned the Mission: Lifeline System of Care Target Heart Attack Honor Roll award, which focuses on the system of care for patients, highlighting the collaboration and contributions of both prehospital and hospital providers. This time-critical award level is limited to those agencies that provide patient transport to STEMI-receiving and STEMI-referring centers.
Acadian’s Capital District and Hub City operations earned the Mission: Lifeline® EMS Bronze achievement award.
Emergency medical services staff can begin treatment when they arrive — up to an hour sooner than if someone goes to the hospital by car. EMS staff are also trained to provide resuscitation efforts to someone whose heart has stopped. People who arrive by ambulance may also receive faster treatment at the hospital.
Mission: Lifeline EMS® is the American Heart Association’s national initiative to advance the system of care for patients with high-risk, time-sensitive disease states, such as severe heart attacks and strokes. The program helps reduce barriers to prompt treatment — starting from when 911 is called, to EMS transport and continuing through hospital treatment and discharge. Optimal care for heart attack and stroke patients takes coordination between the individual prehospital providers and healthcare systems.
The achievement award focuses on agencies’ on-scene care, bringing to the forefront the collaboration and contributions to patient care for prehospital providers.
“Arguably, the most important link in the chains of survival for acute stroke and cardiovascular emergencies is emergency medical services and prehospital professionals,” said Kacey Kronenfeld, M.D., FAEMS, chair of the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline EMS Taskforce. “Early condition identification, stabilization and prehospital interventions, and initiation of actions within the regional systems of care provide patients with the best chance for receiving expedient definitive therapies leading to optimal outcomes and maximized quality of life.
“We are honored to be recognized by the American Heart Association for our dedication to providing optimal care for heart attack patients,” said Acadian Ambulance Chief Medical Officer Dr. Chuck Burnell. “The Mission: Lifeline program puts proven knowledge and guidelines to work on a daily basis so patients have the best possible chance of survival.”
About Acadian Ambulance:
Acadian Ambulance is the largest employee-owned ambulance service in the nation, providing transportation and medical services to areas in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Tennessee. It is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services, and its sister division, Acadian Air Med, is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems. For more information, visit AcadianAmbulance.com.
About Mission: Lifeline
Mission: Lifeline EMS® recognition is the American Heart Association’s program that recognizes prehospital emergency agencies for their quality of care for heart attack and stroke patients. The recognition program focuses on transforming care quality by connecting all heart attack and stroke care components into a seamlessly integrated care system. Key tenets of these systems of care reinforce evidence-based guidelines and measure performance, identify gaps, and engage in quality improvement. For more information, visit heart.org.
