Level One Heart Attack Program Treats 2,000th Patient

On April 27, the Minneapolis Heart Institute® (MHI®) at Abbott Northwestern Hospital reached an important milestone: treating the 2,000th heart attack patient through its innovative Level One Heart Attack Program.

After suddenly feeling ill at home, Gary Wozniak drove himself to Ridgeview Medical Center in Waconia, MN. Wozniak, 50, lives just blocks from the hospital and arrived in the Emergency Department (ED) at 11:40 a.m.

He reported classic heart attack symptoms, including pain in the jaw and both arms and a sharp pain in the sternum area. ED staff at Ridgeview initiated the Level One protocol, administered aspirin, morphine and other medications, and prepared Wozniak for transport.

He was transported by ground ambulance to Abbott Northwestern and taken directly to the catheterization lab. Physicians found and treated a blockage in the right coronary artery. Ninety-five minutes after arriving in the Ridgeview ED, Wozniak’s artery was open.

Wozniak recalled talking with the two physicians in the catheterization lab who explained the procedure and reassured him. Thirteen hours later he was sitting up in bed and watching television. “Everyone did a great job taking care of me,” Wozniak said. “The hospital has obviously learned a lot about making a program like this work. They really lived up to their reputation.”

When the Level One Heart Attack Program began in March 2003, it was the first of its kind in the United States to coordinate heart attack treatment among three key partners in heart attack response: the trained emergency transportation professionals,  the emergency departments at hospitals throughout the state and across the metropolitan area, and the round-the-clock interventional cardiology team at Abbott Northwestern.

Through partnerships with 32 hospitals and 10 clinics, the Level One Heart Attack Program has facilitated prompt, appropriate treatments that improve patients’ survival and recovery rates if done within 90 to 120 minutes of when heart attacks begin. The protocols and communications used by the Level One Heart Attack Program have proven to be very successful – the best heart attack survival in the nation with decreased need for further treatments in the future because of the prompt initial treatments. 

The Level One Program has also dramatically changed how heart attacks are treated nationally: MHI physicians have trained colleagues at more than 100 sites across the nation to develop their own Level One Heart Attack Programs and have published the methodologies and results extensively in peer-reviewed journals.

“What makes our program special is that we not only serve patients who arrive at Abbott Northwestern, we also work collaboratively with outstate hospitals and clinics in a truly integrated diagnostic and treatment network. For patients, this means it doesn’t matter where they are - when they need prompt and coordinated heart attack treatment, the Level One Program is there to take care of them,” said MHI President Kevin Graham, MD.