Heart Attack Rapid Response Team

Loyola is the first hospital in Illinois, and one of few hospitals in the nation, to staff a Heart Attack Rapid Response Team (HARRT) — a team of board-certified, highly experienced interventional cardiologists, nurses and technicians, who are on staff 24-hours a day, seven days a week. This team allows Loyola to provide heart-attack patients who require it life-saving emergency angioplasty treatment immediately upon arrival.

When it comes to a life-threatening heart attack, time can make all the difference. An emergency balloon angioplasty can reopen a blocked artery and restore blood flow. The procedure does the most good if performed within one hour of the patient's arrival, known as the Golden Hour. After three hours, there may not be enough benefits to justify the risks of the procedure.

Reducing angioplasty times is a coordinated effort that begins with paramedics who take patients to the hospital. There are more than three dozen west suburban fire departments and ambulance companies in the Loyola emergency medical services system. A growing number of ambulances are being equipped so that paramedics can administer 12-lead EKG exams while en route to the hospital. An EKG can confirm a heart attack, and results are radioed ahead to the hospital. If an EKG is performed on a patient in the ambulance (or hospital) and a heart attack is confirmed, the patient will be wheeled immediately to the cardiac catheterization lab for treatment.

Interventional cardiologists on the Loyola HARRT team each perform about 300 angioplasties per year — experience that translates to improved outcomes for Loyola patients.

For more information about the Loyola Heart Attack Rapid Response Team (HARRT), call (888) LUHS-888.