DALTON, Ga. (July 7, 2026) – Hamilton Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) recently received the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline EMS® Gold achievement award for its commitment to offering rapid and research-based care to people experiencing the most severe form of heart attacks and strokes, ultimately saving lives.
Emergency medical services staff can begin treatment when they arrive – much sooner than if someone goes to the hospital by car. HEMS staff are also trained to provide resuscitation efforts to someone whose heart has stopped.
Mission: Lifeline EMS® is the American Heart Association’s national initiative to advance the system of care for patients with high-risk, time-sensitive disease states, such as severe heart attacks and strokes. The program helps reduce barriers to prompt treatment – starting from when 911 is called, to EMS transport and continuing through hospital treatment and discharge. Optimal care for heart attack and stroke patients takes coordination between the individual prehospital providers and health care systems.
“Arguably the most important link in the chains of survival for acute stroke and cardiovascular emergencies is emergency medical services and pre-hospital professionals,” said Kacey Kronenfeld, MD, FAEMS, chair of the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline EMS Taskforce. “Early condition identification, stabilization and prehospital interventions and initiation of actions within the regional systems of care provide patients with the best chance for receiving expedient definitive therapies leading to optimal outcomes and maximized quality of life. The American Heart Association Mission: Lifeline EMS awards are an important way to recognize the crucial roles and performances of EMS personnel in stroke and cardiac patients’ care.”
The Mission: Lifeline EMS achievement award focuses on agencies’ on-scene care, bringing to the forefront the collaboration and contributions to patient care for pre-hospital healthcare providers.
HEMS was also recognized on the American Heart Association’s Target: Heart Attack Honor Roll, focused on the system of care for patients. This award highlights the collaboration and contributions of both pre-hospital and hospital providers. To qualify for this recognition, agencies must meet specific criteria that reduce the time between an eligible patient’s first EMS medical contact to hospital arrival and treatment with primary percutaneous coronary intervention or thrombolytic therapy.