Adventist Health Bakersfield among nation’s top performing hospitals for treatment of heart attack patients; ONLY hospital in Kern County to receive Platinum Award

July 12, 2019 (Bakersfield, CA) – Adventist Health Bakersfield has received the American College of Cardiology’s NCDR Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award for 2019. Adventist Health Bakersfield is one of only 225 hospitals nationwide to receive the honor and the ONLY hospital in Kern County to receive this award six years in a row.

The award recognizes Adventist Health Bakersfield’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients and signifies that the medical center has reached an aggressive goal of treating these patients according to standard levels of care as outlined by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association clinical guidelines and recommendations.

To receive the Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award, Adventist Health Bakersfield has demonstrated sustained achievement in the Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry for eight consecutive quarters and has performed at the top level of standards for specific performance measures. Full participation in the registry engages hospitals in a robust quality improvement process using data to drive improvements in caring for heart attack patients.

The Center for Disease Control estimates that more than 700,000 Americans suffer heart attacks each year. A heart attack occurs when a blood clot in a coronary artery partially or completely blocks blood flow to the heart muscle. Treatment guidelines include administering aspirin upon arrival and discharge, restoring blood flow to the blocked artery in a timely manner and providing smoking cessation counseling and cardiac rehabilitation, among others.

“We are so very proud of our team because this shows our consistency of quality care, which really speaks to our mission of: ‘Living God’s love by inspiring health, wholeness and hope,’” said Sharlet Briggs, president of Adventist Health Bakersfield.

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Adventist Health Bakersfield is part of Adventist Health,a faith-based, nonprofit integrated health system serving more than 80 communities on the West Coast and Hawaii. Founded on Seventh-day Adventist heritage and values, Adventist Health provides care in hospitals, clinics, home care agencies, hospice agencies and joint-venture retirement centers in both rural and urban communities. Our compassionate and talented team of 35,000 includes associates, medical staff physicians, allied health professionals and volunteers driven in pursuit of one mission: living God's love by inspiring health, wholeness and hope. Together, we are transforming the American healthcare experience with an innovative, yet timeless, whole-person focus on physical, mental, spiritual and social healing.