Princeton, WV (WOAY) – WVU Medicine Princeton Community Hospital announced Thursday that its Heart and Vascular Institute has earned Advanced Chest Pain Certification from international accrediting body DNV Healthcare.
“Because we believe cardiovascular disease is such an issue in southern West Virginia, we wanted to be able to get this chest pain accreditation for that reason,” said Karen Bowling, president and CEO of WVU Medicine Princeton Community Hospital.
DNV surveyors spent two days at PCH in early October, reviewing how staff care for patients with chest pain from the moment they arrive.
“The quicker you get evaluated, the quicker you get an EKG, the quicker we know whether we’re going to give you a clot buster or take you to the cath lab or whatever the treatment is, the better for you, and we reduce the time it takes to make sure we can get oxygenation back to your heart,” Bowling said.
Interventional cardiologist Dr. Stephen Ward said PCH became one of the first hospitals in West Virginia to use a high-sensitivity blood test for chest pain patients in the emergency room several years ago.
“It would take at least six to eight hours to really effectively rule out a heart attack. But the newer tests, it’s one to two hours,” Ward said of traditional lab work compared with the newer test.
Ward said the faster answer also removes a big reason people put off seeking care.
“Sometimes people don’t want to come to the ER because they’re afraid [they’re] going to be stuck in the ER for 12 hours or be admitted overnight and have all this testing and they have things going on in their lives, so it can be a barrier for people to actually come in,” he said.
According to PCH, the hospital has offered 24-hour emergency treatment for heart attacks caused by a blocked artery since opening its cardiac catheterization lab in 2022.
“Our goal is to keep you close to home and so that if we can prevent you having to be transferred all the way to Morgantown, away from your friends, family, we’re going to do that,” Bowling said.
Ward said he hopes people take heart symptoms seriously.
“People need to not ignore cardiac symptoms, but my hope is that people will feel like if they come to our facility with chest pain or heart attack type symptoms, they can get a really cutting edge evaluation, risk stratification. And if it’s safe for them to go home, they can go home,” Ward said.
PCH also celebrated its annual Pink and Pearl Day on Thursday. The event is held between Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October and Lung Cancer Awareness Month in November, and it emphasizes the importance of getting screened for both diseases.
