Delaware County Memorial Hospital is Pennsylvania's EMS Agency of the Year
DCMH described as a regional leader in the delivery of prehospital advanced life support
November 21, 2011
MECHANICSBURG, PA—The Pennsylvania Department of Health and Pennsylvania Emergency Health Services Council held the 2011 Pennsylvania State EMS Awards at the Radisson Penn Harris Convention Center in Camp Hill, PA.
The annual awards recognize individuals and organizations that have provided extraordinary service to their community and to Pennsylvania’s emergency medical services system. Participating in this year’s award ceremony was Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Eli Avila and EMS Bureau Director Joseph Schmider.
Delaware County Memorial Hospital (DCMH-EMS), Drexel Hill, PA was named the 2011 Pennsylvania EMS Agency of the Year. DCMH has been described as a regional leader in the delivery of prehospital advanced life support.
They were the first ALS service in Delaware County to initiate a special protocol for handling a certain type of heart attack that is associated high mortality rate. Leveraging available technology paramedics in the field are able to obtain and send real-time EKG data directly to the hospital, which reducing the time to definitive cardiac care once the patient arrives at the emergency department.
In 2010, DCMH-EMS boasted an impressive 54% return of spontaneous circulation for victims of sudden cardiac arrest; 18% of these patients surviving to hospital discharge, which is more than double the national average.
DCMH-EMS enjoys strong support among local ambulance organizations due to their commitment to continuous quality improvement, which enables them to provide state-of-the-art care to critically ill and injured patients when minutes count.
