Mercy Health Hospitals Earn Chest Pain Center Accreditation for Excellence in Patient Care

When you’re experiencing chest pain, seconds count. It’s important to receive the right care quickly to ensure your best possible outcome and recovery.

Mercy Health is here to help. Its hospitals’ heart care teams have defined what excellent patient care looks like from the broadest possible point of view, taking in everything from community education through to patient discharge.

“You’ll be in good hands at Mercy Health’s five area hospitals, currently the only hospitals in Cincinnati to have earned chest pain accreditation for delivering excellent care,” said Mercy Health – Cincinnati President David Fikse.

All five of Mercy Health’s Cincinnati-area hospitals now hold Chest Pain Center Accreditation. This follows the news that Mercy Health’s four area cardiac catheterization labs, which are located at Anderson, Fairfield and West Hospitals and The Jewish Hospital, earned Cath Lab Accreditation late last year from the ACC.

Mercy Health is the only regional health system in the country to have achieved both chest pain and cath lab accreditation.

“The accreditation confirms that our care teams have the right processes in place to care for patients who come to us with chest pain. Minutes matter in heart care and every second we save can have an impact on the future quality of a heart attack patient’s life,” said Brenda VanDeVenter, Executive Director, Mercy Health – The Heart Institute.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 730,000 Americans suffer a heart attack each year. The most common symptom of a heart attack for both men and women is chest pain or discomfort. However, women are more likely to have atypical symptoms. Other heart attack symptoms include, but are not limited to, tingling or discomfort in one or both arms, back, shoulder, neck or jaw, shortness of breath, cold sweat, unusual tiredness, heartburn-like feeling, nausea or vomiting, sudden dizziness and fainting.

Anderson, Fairfield, West and The Jewish Hospital hold Chest Pain Center accreditation with PCI. PCI stands for percutaneous coronary intervention, also known as coronary angioplasty. It is a non-surgical procedure that opens narrowed or blocked coronary arteries with a balloon to relieve symptoms of heart disease or reduce heart damage during or after a heart attack.

Hospitals that have earned ACC Chest Pain Center with Primary PCI Accreditation have proven exceptional competency in treating patients with heart attack symptoms and have primary PCI available 24/7 every day of the year. As required to meet the criteria of the accreditation designation, they have streamlined their systems from admission to evaluation to diagnosis and treatment all the way through to appropriate post-discharge care and recommendations and assistance in patient lifestyle changes. In addition, they have formal agreements with other facilities that regularly refer heart attack patients to their facility for primary PCI.

“Mercy Health has demonstrated its commitment to providing Cincinnati with excellent heart care,” said Phillip D. Levy, MD, FACC, chair of the ACC Accreditation Management Board. “ACC Accreditation Services is proud to award Mercy Health with Chest Pain Center with Primary PCI Accreditation.”