Alleghany Regional Hospital Receives Chest Pain Center Accreditation
Hospital plans celebration event for employees and the community

CONTACT:  Cindy Durham Community Relations Leader    (540) 862-6212

Nancy May, Director of Marketing     HCA Virginia – Southwest Market (540) 776-4754 or (540) 537-3475

     

August 1, 2007, Low Moor, VA – Alleghany Regional Hospital announced today that it has been designated an ‘Accredited Chest Pain Center’ by the Society of Chest Pain Centers.  Alleghany Regional is the 11th hospital in Virginia and the State’s first facility located in a rural community to receive the accreditation.

“With Alleghany Regional being the first hospital in a rural area to achieve this recognition, this is truly an honor and a proud moment for our hospital staff,” stated Tim Tobin, CEO of the Low Moor hospital.

“This accreditation has historically been awarded to larger metropolitan hospitals.”  Robin Broughman, chief nursing officer added, “This is truly a testament to the quality of care we provide to our local community. While the focus is on our emergency department, this accreditation is made possible because of the expertise, training and support of our entire staff.”

Heart attacks are the leading cause of death in the United States, with 600,000 individuals dying annually of heart disease. More than five million Americans visit hospitals each year with chest pain. The goal of the Society of Chest Pain Centers is to significantly reduce the mortality rate of these patients by teaching the public to recognize and react to the early symptoms of a possible heart attack, reduce the time that it takes to receive treatment, and increase the accuracy and effectiveness of treatment.

“The Chest Pain Center’s protocol driven and systematic approach to patient management allows physicians to reduce time to treatment during the critical early stages of a heart attack, when treatments are most effective, and to better monitor patients when it is not clear whether they are having a coronary event,” said Broughman. Such observation helps ensure that a patient is neither sent home too early nor needlessly admitted. With the rise of Chest Pain Centers came the need to establish standards designed to improve the consistency and quality of care provided to patients. The Society’s accreditation process insures centers meet or exceed quality-of-care measures in acute cardiac medicine.

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Chest Pain Accreditation (page2)
June 19, 2007
Contact: Durham (540.862.6212) or May (540.776.4754)

To coincide with the accreditation, the hospital has implemented the practice of bedside cardiac markers, a blood test that can determine if a patient is having a heart attack by showing an elevation in cardiac specific enzymes.  “Since implementing bedside cardiac markers, we have our lab results in less than 20 minutes, shaving 40 minutes off the one hour that it used to take when blood samples were sent to the lab,” stated Broughman.

To receive the full cycle II accreditation, the Chest Pain Center at Alleghany Regional Hospital had to demonstrate its expertise and commitment to quality patient care by meeting or exceeding a wide set of stringent criteria and completing on-site evaluations by a review team from the Society of Chest Pain Centers.  Among eight key areas that a Chest Pain Center has to demonstrate expertise are integrating the emergency department with the local emergency medical system; assessing, diagnosing, and treating patients quickly; and ensuring Chest Pain Center personnel competency and training.

Members of the community and hospital staff are invited to a celebration event on ………….

About Alleghany Regional Hospital and HCA Virginia
Alleghany Regional Hospital is a member of HCA Virginia, a network of locally managed hospitals, surgery centers, and outpatient diagnostic and treatment facilities in central, southwest, and northern Virginia.  Last year, HCA Virginia’s 13,600 employees treated 1.2 million patients and provided $106 million in free charity care.  In addition, our network paid $113 million in taxes and donated $3 million to local nonprofit organizations in our communities.  

Other HCA facilities within the Southwest Market include Lewis-Gale Medical Center, Salem; Montgomery Regional Hospital, Blacksburg; and Pulaski Community Hospital, Pulaski. With an inter-facility transfer program and electronic patient records that physicians and staff can access from any HCA hospital, the HCA network delivers patient-focused, cost effective health care, continuously improving quality and utilizing resources effectively.

About the Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC)
The Society of Chest Pain Centers is a patient centric non-profit international professional organization focused upon improving care for patients with acute coronary syndromes and other related maladies.  Established in 1998, the Society is dedicated to patient advocacy and focusing on ischemic heart disease. Central to its mission is the question, “What is right for the patient?”  In answer, the Society promotes protocol based medicine, often delivered through a Chest Pain Center model to address the diagnosis and treatment of acute coronary syndromes, heart failure, and to promote the adoption of process improvement science by healthcare providers.  To best fulfill this mission, the Society of Chest Pain Centers provides accreditation to facilities striving for optimum Chest Pain Center care.  SCPC is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.  For more information on the Society of Chest Pain Centers visit www.scpcp.org, or contact Robert Lipetz, Executive Director at (614) 442-5950 or director@scpcp.org.