About Us
STEMI Time
Mission Statement & HistoryFrom diagnosis to discharge, we deliver world-class cardiac care. In 1987, The Medical Center of Plano became the first hospital in Collin County to provide comprehensive cardiovascular medicine to its patients. Today, HeartLink™ is the only cardiology program in Collin County with:
- Four disease certifications from The Joint Commission.
- An accredited cardiac rehabilitation center
- Full Chest Pain Center Cycle III accreditation with PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention) from the Society of Chest Pain Centers
- Accreditation from the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories
- Accreditation in nuclear cardiology from the American College of Nuclear Cardiology.
- Specialized care for women through HeartCaring, a national certification program honoring excellence in gender-specific heart care
- Recognition from BlueCross BlueShield as a Blue Distinction Center for Cardiac Care®
- Premium® Specialty Center Designation from United HealthCare.
- Mended Hearts, a support group for patients and their families during the recovery process
Our services include state-of-the-art heart and vascular medicine and surgery, cardiovascular imaging, and fully integrated emergency hospital and intensive coronary care services. View the full list of patient services, treatments and procedures.
STEMI Time
Imagine you feel sudden pain in your chest, You have shortness of breath, sweating, and now you're starting to feel nauseous. You probably know it already - you're having a heart attack, or "STEMI."
A STEMI (ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction) is a deadly type of heart attack, which is identified on an EKG. Early treatment to the blocked coronary artery minimizes the extent of the heart muscle damage and preserves the pumping function of the heart, thereby increasing survival and reducing or eliminating complications. One of the deciding factors for whether you live or die is how quickly your artery is opened (or "STEMI Time").
STEMI Time represents an average of our hospital's STEMI cases over the past 52 weeks for which data is available, and is defined as the time it took to re-establish blood flow from the time the patient arrived at our Emergency Room. The American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association and The Joint Commission have established that this should occur in 90 minutes or less.
But we take it one step further. Because our STEMI Time is so quick, we also measure the time it took to re-establish blood flow from the moment the patient dialed 911. Thanks to a close partnership with Plano Emergency Medical Services, our average time for that scenario is still lower than the national 90 minute STEMI Time benchmark.
The bottom line? The Medical Center of Plano is the place to go if you have a heart attack. Our strategic partnerships and efficient processes mean we can open your artery faster than other hospitals. Because, yes, we want you to come here. But we also want you to walk out.
