Temecula Valley Hospital Recognized For Ability to Diagnose, Treat Heart Attacks

Temecula Valley Hospital has been awarded a STEMI Receiving Center Designation by the Riverside Emergency Medical Services Agency (REMSA). The designation recognizes the hospital for meeting or exceeding national standards in diagnosing and treating heart attacks. This designation identifies TVH as a hospital that is specially equipped and trained to care for patients experiencing a dangerous form of heart attack called ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) which is caused by a sudden, total blockage of a coronary artery.

The Temecula Valley Hospital STEMI Team is a combined group of staff and physicians in the Emergency Department and Cardiac Catheterization (Cath) Lab that has developed a process to immediately alert all necessary medical professionals to the needs of the heart attack patient, quickly transporting them to the cath lab for decisive heart muscle saving treatment.

Certification by the Riverside County Emergency Medical Services Agency requires an extensive review and includes operating a cardiac catheterization laboratory licensed by the Department of Health Services and approved for emergency percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) – a highly advanced procedure that opens narrowed or obstructed blood vessels by inflating a small balloon and inserting a wire mesh tube called a stent that keeps the blood vessel open. A STEMI Receiving Center must also provide a nursing director for the center, have an on-call physician consultant who must be available immediately, and have a cardiologist with primary PCI privileges. The team of nurses, cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, and interventional cardiologist must be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for a hospital to receive this designation.

“This has been a great accomplishment for us at Temecula Valley Hospital”, says Dr. Andrew Ho, interventional cardiologist and medical director and chief of cardiology. “Our interventional program has had a great track record thus far and we will continue to strive for the best care in this community”.

Temecula Valley Hospital is located at 31700 Temecula Parkway and brings advanced technology, innovative programs, patient-centered and family sensitive care to area residents. As the region’s newest acute care facility, the hospital features 140 private patient rooms, 24 hour a day emergency care, advanced cardiac and stroke care, orthopedics and general medical care, and surgical specialties.