Chest Pain-Code AMI

The heart specialists of Providence Holy Cross Medical Center and Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center are committed to treating heart attack patients according to the highest national quality standards. To that end, Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center and Providence Holy Cross Medical Center have established a specialized program in each hospital, Chest Pain–Code AMI, to ensure that every patient who appears to be having a heart attack receives expedited diagnosis and treatment.  Community hospitals in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys without the technology and expertise to provide angioplasty must either use clot-dissolving medications or immediately transfer the heart attack patient to a hospital in which angioplasty can be promptly performed.

Providence Holy Cross Medical Center is among the top 10 percent nationally for performing angioplasty within 90 minutes of patients’ arrivals, according to the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Hospital Organizations (JCAHO).  In addition, Providence Holy Cross Medical Center is a 5-Star Provider of Heart Failure Treatment and Coronary Interventional Procedures, according to national health care ratings agency HealthGrades®.  Furthermore, the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services recently designated Providence Holy Cross Medical Center as a specialty center for treating acute heart attack patients.

Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center ranks among the top 10 percent nationally for performing angioplasty within 120 minutes of patients’ arrivals, according to the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Hospital Organizations (JCAHO), and the California Office of State Health Planning and Development reports that Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center produces significantly better than expected heart attack treatment outcomes.  Additionally, Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center is Best in the San Fernando Valley for Heart Surgery and a 5-Star Provider of Care for Atrial Fibrillation and Heart Failure, according to national health care ratings agency HealthGrades®.  Furthermore, the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services recently designated Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center as a specialty center for treating acute heart attack patients.

Learn more about the signs of a heart attack and what to do if you suspect you are or someone else is having a heart attack.

Heart Attack in Slow Motion: Signs and Symptoms

You feel discomfort in the middle of your chest.  It may feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing or fullness.  Perhaps it feels like sharp pain.  You wait for it to go away.

A few minutes later, the discomfort is still there.
Maybe it lessened for a while, but now it’s back again.  Quite possibly, the discomfort isn’t in your chest at all, but somewhere else in your body: your arm, back, neck or jaw.  Maybe it’s in your stomach.  You think it’s just indigestion.  You feel sick to your stomach, dizzy or short of breath.  Perhaps you break out into a cold sweat.  If you’re a woman, maybe you feel breathless, fatigued or dizzy.  Perhaps you feel anxious.   You may even confuse what you’re feeling with symptoms of menopause.

You don’t realize it, but you’ve just received a warning.
The blood supply to your heart muscle has been blocked, and within minutes, your heart muscle will begin to suffer harm that may result in permanent damage.

You’re having a heart attack.

Time is a Heart Muscle

Some heart attacks are sudden and intense, but many begin slowly, with mild pain or discomfort.  Some people don’t want to believe they’re experiencing a heart attack, otherwise known as an acute myocardial infarction (AMI).  That’s why half of all people experiencing heart attacks wait more than two hours before seeking help.  As a result, approximately 250,000 of the 1.1 million
Americans who experience a heart attack each year die before they get to a hospital.  If you suspect you or someone else is having a heart attack, don’t wait longer than five minutes before seeking help.  For every moment you wait, you risk further damage to the heart muscle and increase the risk that you or the victim will not survive the heart attack, or that quality of life after the heart attack will be diminished.  Blood flow to the heart muscle must be restored quickly, within 90 to 120 minutes of the beginning of the heart attack.  That’s why it’s so important you call 9-1-1 or go to a hospital emergency department immediately.

To clear the clogged artery and restore blood flow to the heart muscle, physicians will administer clot-busting drugs or perform angioplasty, a procedure that uses tiny balloons to widen the blocked area.  All U.S. hospitals can administer clot-dissolving drugs.  However, not all hospitals can perform emergency coronary angioplasties, which require expertly trained cardiologists, nurses and technologists working in a specially equipped room and backed by an experienced cardiovascular surgery team.

Recent clinical studies indicate that opening the clogged artery of a patient in the early phase of a heart attack using angioplasty and stents minimizes damage to the heart muscle, reduces complications and produces better long-term outcomes.  The sooner the artery is opened, the better the results. According to medical research published in the U.S. and Europe, clot-dissolving drug therapy alone is less effective.

Code AMI: The Most Advanced Heart Attack Treatment Available Plan to Survive

If you’re the one experiencing heart attack symptoms, call 9-1-1 or the emergency medical services (EMS) closest to you.   If you’re not able to access EMS, have someone else drive you to the hospital.  Don’t drive yourself unless you have absolutely no other option.  Before there’s an emergency, it’s a good idea to identify the closest hospital to your home or office with 24-hour emergency cardiac care.  In any emergency situation, it’s always wise to have your personal medical records with you to give to emergency personnel, which will enable them to help you more quickly.  Please contact our Health Resource Center to receive one of our Chest Pain-Code AMI brochures, which include a personal medical information card.  When you receive the brochure and card, detach it and put it in your wallet — your vital information will always be at hand.

For more information about our programs and services, awards and recognitions, or our nationally recognized heart specialists, contact our Health Resource Center at 1-888-HEALING (1-888-432-5464).  Or you may find a heart specialist by searching our online physician directory.