Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center has received the Gold Performance Achievement Award from the American College of Cardiology. 

Yakima Regional is one of only 121 hospitals in the country, one of only four in the state, and the only one in central Washington to be honored with this distinction.

The award recognizes Yakima Regional’s dedication to treating heart attack patients at a higher level of care, and signifies that Yakima Regional has met and exceeded stringent quality standards set by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association for 24 consecutive months. 

Standards include the use of medications like cholesterol-lowering drugs, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, aspirin and anticoagulants in the hospital, among other measures. 

The award is presented by the ACTION Registry – Get With The Guidelines (GWTG), a partnership between the American College of Cardiology’s National Cardiovascular Data Registry and the American Heart Association’s Get With the Guidelines-Coronary Artery Disease programs. 

The award combines the best aspects of both programs.

“The American College of Cardiology Foundation and the American Heart Association commend Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center for its success in implementing these standards of care and protocols,” said Christopher Cannon, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Chair of the ACTION Registry – GWTG Steering Committee.

“We’re proud to receive this award,” said Corinne Murphy-Hines, Executive Director of Cardiac Services.

“Since this award is data and outcome based, it shows that Yakima Regional is among the best in the country in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction patients.”

Yakima Regional CEO Monte Bostwick stressed that the award is “also about the people” at the facility that provide the cardiac care.

“We have a superior team,” Bostwick said. “We have consistently been reaching out to area communities.”

The national standard for “door to balloon,” the time that elapses between the time the heart-attack patient enters the emergency room and the time procedures are underway to clear the blocked arteries, is 90 minutes.

Bostwick said the average time at Yakima Regional is 58 minutes.