Houston Northwest Medical Center and Cypress Creek Emergency Medical Services Join Forces to Improve Patient Care

When a heart attack occurs, it is critical to recognize the symptoms and respond immediately. Speedy treatment can not only mean the difference between life and death, but also between disability and a return to an active lifestyle after a heart attack. Time is muscle! Delay may increase heart damage, reduce the chance of survival and increase the risk of disability.

Understanding the importance of fast reactions and quick response from the medical team, Houston Northwest Medical Center and Cypress Creek Emergency Medical Services have joined forces to implement protocols that improve response mechanisms designed to decrease door-to-balloon time—the time that elapses from a patient’s arrival to treatment with angioplasty—for patients suffering from a severe heart attack in which an artery is significantly blocked. This kind of heart attack is known as a ST elevation myocardial infarction, or STEMI.

Each year an estimated 500,000 Americans have a STEMI. Treating this type of heart attack requires fast action because if blood flow is not restored to the heart, permanent damage will occur. Some heart muscle can be saved if patients are treated later, but more of it is lost with every minute treatment is delayed. According to the American Heart Association, heart attack patients treated at a hospital that consistently restored blood flow to a damaged heart in 90 minutes or less have the best outcome.