RICHMOND HEIGHTS, MO – Mary Fischer, a registered nurse and STEMI Coordinator at SSM St. Mary’s Health Center, received the second annual Florence Nightingale award from Abbott EMS in recognition of her work with heart-attack patients. This is the second year that an SSM St. Mary’s Health Center nurse was selected by Abbott’s EMS staff as the winner of the Florence Nightingale honor.
“To be selected from among all the St. Louis nurses with whom the Abbott EMS crews work is an amazing compliment,” said Fischer. “SSM Heart Institute at St. Mary’s so values our partnership with EMS crews in helping us save lives. So, it is such a reward to know just how much they value my efforts and those of our team.”
STEMI is a an ST-elevated Myocardial Infarction, the most deadly form of heart-attack. As the STEMI coordinator at SSM St. Mary’s, Fischer is well known to local EMS crews for her efforts to recognize their critical role in saving lives. She makes an extra effort to let crews know the outcome of the heart-attack patients they bring to SSM St. Mary’s Health Center.
Perhaps even more important is Fischer’s integral role in implementing new protocols at SSM St. Mary’s Health Center and SSM St. Clare Health Center in Fenton that allow EMS crews to activate the Cardiac Cath Lab team from the field. This new protocol allows EMS to bypass the Emergency Department and shave crucial minutes off treatment time for heart-attack patients.
With this latest protocol change, area EMS crews and the Cath Lab team are providing life-saving treatment in the shortest possible time. As a result, there have been door-to-balloon (D2B) times in as little as 12 minutes at both SSM St. Clare and SSM St. Mary’s.
SSM St. Mary’s Health Center is a leader in heart-attack care, unblocking arteries in 90 minutes or less, 100 percent of the time. SSM St. Mary’s Health Center has maintained this standard for 33 consecutive months, a rare and unbroken success among heart programs nationwide. SSM St. Clare Health Center has maintained this golden standard as well for 17 months. You can learn more about this achievement at ssmhealth.com/stmarys.
“Our EMS crews appreciate being recognized for their critical role in patient care,” said Tracey Swabby, Abbott EMS director of business development. “When you have someone like Mary, who goes out of her way to make our EMS crew feel like part of the SSM St. Mary’s team – that is huge. She understands that our medics are emotionally invested in the outcome of the patients we bring to the hospital and treats our crews as members of her team.”
Abbott EMS’ Florence Nightingale award honors nursing staff in the St. Louis metropolitan area. The award is gifted annually to one hospital-based nurse and one nursing home-based nurse. Nurses are nominated and then the winners are selected by a random panel of Abbott emergency medical technicians.
About SSM St. Mary’s Health Center
Conveniently located in Richmond Heights, Mo., SSM St. Mary's Health Center is a contemporary, 525-bed hospital with distinctive capabilities in high-risk obstetrical services, fetal surgery, state-of-the-art heart surgery, a chest pain center, advanced stroke care, and the latest imaging and outpatient services. Also a teaching hospital, SSM St. Mary’s Health Center is home to an accredited internal medicine residency program and to Saint Louis University School of Medicine’s Obstetrics/Gynecology and Family Practice residency programs. SSM St. Mary's Health Center is winner of the Premier QUEST High Performing Hospital award. It is a member of SSM Health Care – St. Louis, a Missouri Quality Award winner. To learn more, visit www.ssmhealth.com/stmarys.
About SSM Heart Institute
A service of SSM Health Care – St. Louis, SSM Heart Institute is the St. Louis region’s most experienced provider of comprehensive heart care. A team of more than 100 skilled cardiologists, electrophysiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons provides the most advanced treatment, advanced techniques and unparalleled experience for the best clinical outcomes. Combined with expert nursing and technical staff, this team offers a full range of services to prevent, diagnose and treat heart disease. SSM Heart Institute services are available at five SSM hospitals located in St. Louis and St. Charles counties. For more information, go to www.ssmhealth.com/heart.
For media inquires, contact:
Stacey L. Rynders
Communications Specialist
SSM St. Mary's Health Center
314-768-8801 (office)
314-306-7866 (cell)
314-908-0688 (pager)
Stacey_L_Rynders@ssmhc.com