By Dylan Marsh
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
WINDSOR, VT. — The Windsor Fire Department recently received the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline EMS Gold Plus Achievement Award. The national award recognizes Windsor Fire/EMS services’ commitment to offering rapid research-based care to people experiencing the most severe form of heart attack. The job they perform ultimately saves lives, and for this, they have been given the highest possible achievement.
The department covers medical and fire emergencies for Windsor, West Windsor, Reading, and portions of Hartland, Vermont, as well as Cornish and Plainfield, New Hampshire.
“It’s nice to know we are doing something good and above what the national average.
That we are being recognized for getting people to quality care,” said Lieutenant Mellisa Williams with the Windsor Fire Department.
According to the Vermont government website, Windsor County has one of the lowest average heart disease death rates in the state of Vermont. Total death rates are between 236-285 per 100,000. Every year, roughly 250,000 people experience a type of heart attack ST elevation myocardial infarction.
Windsor received the silver award last year from the American Health Association for their work. It was their first year applying and new participants couldn’t receive the highest award but, according to Lieutenant Trey Whalen, they had also hit all of their markers last year as well. The award is based on time markers in which emergency response services are required to verify a cardiac situation within ten minutes, and then transport the patient to the appropriate medical facility within 90 minutes. The nearest facility that meets all of the requirements is Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
Mission: Lifeline is the AHA national initiative to advance the system of care for patients with high-risk, time-sensitive disease states, such as severe heart attacks.
“The health care professionals who interact with a patient even before he or she enters the hospital or emergency room play a vital part in the system of care for those who have heart attacks,” said James G. Jollis, M.D., volunteer chair for the GWTG-CAD Systems of Care Advisory Work Group and professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. “Since they are the first medical point of contact, they can save precious minutes of treatment time by activating the emergency response system that alerts hospitals to an oncoming heart attack patient.”
The Mission: Lifeline achievement award is earned by agencies that demonstrate a commitment to treating patients according to the most up-to-date research-based practices as outlined by the American Heart Association.
“Being a department in a small town it’s incredible to be able to deliver that kind of service. Receiving this award is an honor. I am especially proud of the men and women that I work with who train hard, work hard, and go out every day and do their best. It’s nice to see that hard work recognized,” said Williams of the staff’s work and receiving the award.
The Windsor Fire/EMS services are also subject to quarterly quality assurance meetings with the Medical Director of DHMC, Thomas Trimarco. The meetings provide the Windsor departments with in-depth reviews of specific cases they have taken on and what they’ve done well and what they can improve. According to Whalen, this offers an invaluable resource as continuous input contributes to their success.
“I like to think that our employees take what they do seriously. The people I work with are really dedicated to the people we serve, and that dedication and hard work is what makes the difference when it comes to helping people,” Whalen said.
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