St. Luke's Hospital Achieves Level 1 Designation for Heart Attack Treatment

St. Luke's Hospital is proud to have earned Level 1 STEMI accreditation by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

This designation recognizes St. Luke's Hospital for quickly and appropriately treating the most severe type of heart attack known as STEMI (ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction), in which blood flow is completely blocked to a part of the heart.

The St. Luke's Hospital STEMI team, which consists of physicians, nurses and technicians from a full-range of multidisciplinary care, has a goal to get patients the right care in the shortest amount of time. The national goal for getting STEMI patients to intervention is 90 minutes. At St. Luke's Hospital, our median time is 47 minutes.

St. Luke's Hospital partners with local EMS (emergency medical services) to provide the best care as quickly as possible. EMS agencies deliver care that begins in the field. When EMS identifies that a person is having a heart attack, they notify the St. Luke's STEMI team. The team prepares for the patient's arrival and transports them directly to the cath lab to unblock the artery, saving time and saving heart muscle.

Treatment options for a STEMI consist of percutaneous coronary intervention, which includes both angioplasty and stenting, clot-busting medication and coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

St. Luke's Hospital underwent a rigorous two-day on-site review by accreditation specialists to receive this designation. Through these assessments, the St. Luke's STEMI team demonstrated exceptional quality care for patients presenting via four different routes: via EMS for patients who called 911 from the field and came directly to St. Luke's Hospital; patients who walked in directly to the hospital emergency department without calling 911; patients transferred from a different hospital to St. Luke's after a STEMI was diagnosed at the first location; and patients who developed their STEMI while already an inpatient at St. Luke's.

Remember: when you have a heart attack, you can choose where you want to be treated. As a Level 1 STEMI facility, make sure to call 911 and choose St. Luke's Hospital.