For a full decade, Delaware County’s Emergency Medical Services team has received an award every year from the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline program. This year, for the 8th year in a row, it has been their EMS Gold Achievement Award. This national-level honor recognizes prehospital-care agencies around the country that meet the AHA’s standards for rapid and research-based care for the most severe forms of heart attacks and strokes.
“We are very proud to be included in this elite group of honorees,” said Delaware County EMS Director Jeff Fishel. “It truly takes a team — from the 911 dispatcher to the EMTs and paramedics on the ambulances, from our training and CQI departments ensuring the highest levels of training to the collaboration and teamwork with other area first responders. I am proud of and appreciate them all for their hard work and dedication to ensuring such great outcomes.”
This year, Delaware County EMS also has received the AHA’s Mission: Lifeline System of Care Target Heart Attack Award, which recognizes outstanding collaboration between prehospital and hospital providers.
Mission: Lifeline EMS is the AHA’s national initiative to advance the system of care for patients with high-risk, time-sensitive disease states, such as severe heart attacks and strokes. Nationally, about 10% of cardiac-arrest patients (those whose hearts have stopped) are discharged neurologically intact from a hospital. In 2023, 23.08% of Delaware County EMS’s cardiac-arrest patients were discharged neurologically intact.