Trans Am Ambulance Services has received the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline EMS Bronze PlusAward for providing exceptional pre-hospital care to patients experiencing severe heart attacks.

“We are honored to be recognized once again by the American Heart Association for our continuing commitment to the highest levels of pre-hospital care for cardiac patients,” said Trans Am General Manager Todd Reisner. “We adhere to very specific EMS quality measures in conjunction with our hospital partners. Our goal is to help minimize the time between a patient’s first medical contact and intervention in the cardiac catheterization lab.”

Every year, more than a quarter million Americans experience an ST elevation myocardial infarction, or STEMI, the deadliest type of heart attack. STEMIs are caused by a blockage of blood flow to the heart that requires timely treatment. Blood flow must be restored as quickly as possible, either by mechanically opening the blocked vessel or by providing clot-busting medication.

In the first six months of 2018, Trans Am Ambulance crews have already responded to 60 calls for patients reporting cardiac type chest pain. Of those, 3 patients were indicative of STEMI heart attacks based on pre-hospital electrocardiogram (ECG). In 2017, Trans Am transported a total of 158 patients experiencing chest pain. And of those, 8 showed STEMI heart attack responses on prehospital ECGs.

The Mission: Lifeline initiative provides the tools, training and other resources to support heart attack care following protocols from the most recent evidence-based treatment guidelines. Mission: Lifeline’s EMS program recognizes emergency medical services for their efforts in improving systems of care to rapidly identify suspected heart attack patients, promptly notify the medical center and trigger an early response from the awaiting hospital personnel.

“We applaud Trans Am Ambulance Services for achieving this award in following evidence-based guidelines in the treatment of people who have severe heart attacks,” said Tim Henry, M.D., Chair of the Mission: Lifeline Acute Coronary Syndrome Subcommittee.

“EMTs and paramedics play a vital part in the system of care for those who have heart attacks,” Dr. Henry said.  “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.”

About Trans Am Ambulance Services

For more than 30 years, the Reisner family and the excellent Trans Am staff have provided the highest quality ambulance service to Cattaraugus County and the Village and Town of Cuba in Allegany County in west Upstate New York. The company also serves customers in McKean and Potter counties in northwestern Pennsylvania. Every Trans Am medical vehicle is staffed with highly skilled certified paramedics and EMTs who are trained in the latest lifesaving technology and emergency protocols. Trans Am is a regional branch of the national Priority Ambulance network.

About Mission: Lifeline

The American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline^® program helps hospitals and emergency medical services develop systems of care that follow proven standards and procedures for acute coronary syndrome patients. The program works by mobilizing teams across the continuum of care to implement American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology clinical treatment guidelines.  For more information, visit heart.org.

Photo caption: Trans Am Ambulance Services EMT Ken Moore and Paramedic Jay Prosser stock a 12-lead EKG cardiac monitor on its ambulance. The device is used to caption a patient’s cardiac data on the scene and transmit the data in advance of the ambulance to the hospital for a seamless response and more immediate cardiac intervention in a catheterization lab.