RICHLAND, Wash. – Richland Fire and Emergency Services and Kadlec Regional Medical Center have been recognized for their exceptional care of patients experiencing heart attacks or strokes.
The Richland Fire Department received the Mission Lifeline EMS Gold Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. This award is given to emergency services agencies that offer rapid, research-based care to people experiencing the most severe form of heart attack and stroke.
Richland Fire Chief Tom Huntington detailed the efforts involved in earning the award.
“Patient care, doing things in the right sequence, providing the right medications at the right time. And that interplay between the pre-hospital setting and being able to bring the patient to a care facility that can they can really have seamless patient care transfer,” Huntington said.
Battalion Chief Michael Van Beek highlighted the significance of the award as a testament to their dedication.
“The award is important because it speaks to the dedication of our EMS providers. But what it really shows is our dedication to improving outcomes in the community and improving outcomes for our patients to make sure that they get to go back to lives that they lived before an event and they get to go back to their family and friends and live a full and happy life,” Van Beek said.
The fire department had aimed for the gold award after receiving the silver award last year.
“This is our second year that we’ve won the award. Last year we qualified for the silver award and we set the goal to exceed that and go for the top tier, which is the gold award,” Huntington said.
Kadlec Regional Medical Center also earned recognition with the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Award for the second year. The award acknowledges Kadlec’s commitment to providing stroke patients with top-notch treatment based on national guidelines, helping save lives and reduce disability.
More information about the awards and the qualifications can be found here.
