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Health Scene •
www.bmhsc.org
Recently,
BMH submitted its applica-
tion for a certificate of need from the
South Carolina Department of Health and
Environmental Control (DHEC) to be able
to provide emergency cardiac interven-
tions as needed for patients having a
STEMI (ST-segment elevation myocardial
infarction), a kind of heart attack.
“We can give them clot-busting medi-
cation, but it doesn’t work in 20 percent
of the cases,” says Daniel Mock, Beaufort
Memorial’s senior director of cardiovascu-
lar and imaging services. “Angioplasty is
the most effective way to treat a STEMI.”
Studies show that fewer than half of
STEMI patients in the country receive
emergency cardiac care within the
90-minute “door-to-balloon” time frame
recommended by the American College
of Cardiology and the American Heart
Association. The interval starts with the
patient’s first medical contact and ends
when the catheter guidewire crosses
the clot.
“We’re looking to improve access of
emergency cardiac care to our commu-
nity,” Mock says. “Right now, if you live
in Beaufort County north of the Broad or
BMH moves to expand heart attack services
in Hampton or Jasper counties, you may
not be able to access emergency services
within that 90-minute window. Our goal is
to create another access point to fill a void
for Northern Beaufort County residents.”
The State Health Plan requires a hos-
pital to document having done at least
600 noninterventional cardiac procedures
in a 12-month period before it can apply
to offer interventional procedures. With
four cardiologists now on staff, BMH has
more than met the volume requirements.
Between January 2011 and January 2012,
the hospital performed 650 diagnostic
catheterizations.
Last year, a team of experts from Duke
Heart Network performed a three-day
assessment of the hospital’s staff, equip-
ment and facilities. Since then, BMH has
worked to meet the other rigorous criteria
to attain state certification.
Once the application is deemed com-
plete, it can take two to four months to
receive the decision from DHEC.
For information about BMH cardiolo-
gists, call our Doctor Referral Service
at
888-522-5585
or go to our website at
www.bmhsc.org.
Because time is of the essence
January may be
the first month of the
year, but after summer’s recess, September
brings a beginning all its own. With it
comes the urge to branch out, to break old
habits and replace them with new, better
ones.
If you’re looking for suggestions, blood
donation is a good habit to form.
It’s quick—under an hour. You can do it
often, but not too often—every 56 days for
whole blood, every 14 for platelets. And you
will, quite literally, be saving lives in a unique
and irreplaceable way, since blood can’t be
harvested or manufactured—it can only be
collected from living donors like you.
The Blood Alliance (TBA)—a not-for-
profit community blood bank headquar-
tered in Jacksonville, Fla., and the sole
provider of blood to Beaufort Memorial—
makes blood donation convenient. It offers
donors a number of opportunities each
month to give.
Start a new habit this fall: Donate blood!
Giving blood is one habit that can last you a lifetime—
and lives will last longer because of it.
How can
I give?
✓
For a schedule of
local blood drives, visit
The Blood Alliance’s
(TBA) website at
www.igiveblood.com
.
✓
To donate at TBA’s
local donor center at
1001 Boundary St., call
843-522-0409
. Donor
center hours are Tuesday,
Thursday, Saturday and
Sunday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.,
and Wednesday, noon
to 7 p.m.