NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., July 11, 2013 --- Underscoring its status as a major health services provider in Orange
County, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian has announced that its
Irvine hospital now can receive emergency cardiac patients after the county awarded it
special status following a rigorous review process.
Hoag Hospital Irvine’s designation as a Cardiovascular Receiving
Center (CVRC) went into effect Monday, July 1, and is a reflection of
Hoag’s longstanding reputation throughout Orange County as an excellent
provider of heart and vascular care, said Robert Braithwaite, president
and CEO at Hoag.
“This is something we’ve been working toward since we opened
Hoag Hospital Irvine in September 2010, and is something the Irvine community
has wanted,” Braithwaite said. “Earning this status would
not have been possible without the entire Hoag organization coming together,”
he continued, noting that Hoag had to go through the full application
process for CVRC status after it took over the campus from its previous
operator, Tenet, and closed the facility for two years.
The CVRC status means that Hoag Hospital Irvine now is one of only 13 hospitals
in Orange County, including Hoag Hospital Newport Beach, which can directly
receive patients via ambulance who are suffering a
heart attack and need immediate attention. Prior to July 1, such patients in the Irvine
area had to be routed by paramedics to other hospitals farther away with
the CVRC designation.
The status of CVRC is re-evaluated every one to two years, and is awarded
by the Orange County Emergency Medical Services (OCEMS) following an exhaustive
site survey and review of an application and supporting documents. Hoag
Hospital Irvine’s designation as a Cardiovascular Receiving Center
is effective for one year through June 30, 2014.
Hospitals with CVRC status must meet a variety of standards of care for
patients suffering life-threatening heart attacks, as designated by the
American Heart Association and other agencies such as OCEMS, whose mission
is to appropriately and efficiently respond to emergencies throughout
the county.
Because time is of the essence when serious heart events occur, Cardiac
Receiving Centers must have an emergency department, cardiac cath lab,
cardiologists on staff and a cardiovascular surgeon who work together
as a team to help preserve a patient’s heart within 90 minutes following
the onset of chest pain.
Teams at CVRC-designated hospitals must be available 24 hours a day, seven
days a week to help patients who are in the throes of high-risk heart
attacks known as STEMI, which stands for ST-elevation myocardial infarction.
ST elevations refer to abnormal findings on an electrocardiogram.
Patients taken to a CVRC-designated hospital such as Hoag Hospital Irvine
are rapidly assessed and triaged, and depending on the patient’s
diagnosis and condition, he or she may have immediate angiography, angioplasty
or even bypass surgery if necessary.
As a reminder to the community, anyone having chest pains or other warning
signs of a heart attack should immediately call 911. Emergency medical
services (EMS) staff can begin treatment when they reach you, are trained
to revive someone whose heart has stopped and can transport you more quickly
to receive hospital care.
Hoag Hospital Irvine is an extension of Hoag’s services in Newport
Beach and its seven Hoag Health Centers throughout Orange County. Located
at 16200 Sand Canyon Ave., at Alton Parkway just off the 405 freeway,
the hospital provides a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services.
Hoag Heart & Vascular Institute also recently received the Get With
The Guidelines®–Heart Failure Gold Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart
Association. The recognition signifies that the organization has reached
an aggressive goal of treating heart failure patients according to the
guidelines of care recommended by the American Heart Association/American
College of Cardiology.
For more information, visit www.hoag.org or call 949-764-HOAG.
About Hoag Heart and Vascular Institute
Hoag Heart and Vascular Institute is Orange County’s highest-volume,
highest-rated cardiovascular program and one of the preeminent cardiovascular
centers on the West Coast. Specialties include diagnostic cardiology,
cardiothoracic surgery, vascular surgery, endovascular diagnosis and treatment,
interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, electrophysiology,
cardiac rehabilitation, disease management, prevention services, and research.
An independent health care research firm rated Hoag Heart and Vascular
Institute one of America’s Top 100 Hospitals for cardiac surgery,
and American Heart Association has awarded Hoag with its Get With The
Guidelines®--Heart Failure Gold Quality Achievement Award.
About Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian
Hoag is an approximately $1 billion nonprofit, regional health care delivery
network in Orange County, California, that treats more than 30,000 inpatients
and 350,000 outpatients annually. Hoag consists of two acute-care hospitals,
seven health centers, and five urgent care centers. Hoag Hospital Newport
Beach, which has served Orange County since 1952, and Hoag Hospital Irvine,
which opened in 2010, are designated Magnet hospitals by the American
Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Hoag offers a comprehensive blend
of health care services that includes five institutes providing specialized
services in the following areas:
cancer,
heart and vascular,
neurosciences,women’s health, and orthopedics through Hoag’s affiliate,
Hoag Orthopedic Institute. Hoag has been named one of the Best Regional Hospitals in the U.S. News
& World Report Metro Edition. National Research Corporation has endorsed
Hoag as Orange County’s most preferred hospital for the past 17
consecutive years and, for an unprecedented 17 years, residents of Orange
County have chosen Hoag as the county’s best hospital in a local
newspaper survey. Visit
www.hoag.org for more information.