Oak Hill Earns Chest Pain Center Accreditation

By TONY HOLT Hernando Today

BROOKSVILLE - It takes doctors and nurses at Oak Hill Hospital barely more than an hour to administer, diagnose and treat patients with chest pains.

That level of efficient care earned the hospital the designation of Accredited Chest Pain Center, one of only nine in the state and the only one in Hernando County.

Oak Hill celebrated its achievement Friday morning. Chief Executive Officer Mickey Smith thanked everyone from the surgeons in the hospital to the paramedics out in the field.

"It's the foundation that makes an effective program," he said. "If you don't spend time on the foundation, you make it this far. You have to have all the basics in place."

Those basics also include an emergency room, catheterization lab, open-heart surgical suite and a private recovery room all within a short walking distance.

Oak Hill has everything on the first floor and in close proximity. Hundreds of professionals are involved in making the Chest Pain Center run effectively and smoothly, Smith said.

Hospital spokesman Richard Linkul pointed to a diagram of the hospital, showing how everything is done in succession without any long waits in between steps. That is why a patient can be treated in 68 minutes, he said.

"The EMT guys come in and bring them in this door here," he said pointing to his computer screen. "The trauma room is here and then they go into the cath lab..."

The Chest Pain Center earned the hospital its fourth major accreditation. It also has been recognized for its cancer program, stroke center and heart institute.

"It's one further commitment to the community that this hospital is striving for excellence," Linkul said. "All the efforts together show the depth of expertise among our doctors and nurses is at an exceptionally high level."

The latest accreditation comes from the Society of Chest Pain Centers. It runs for three years and will expire in April 2011.