 Hello, my name is Dr. Michael Lauer and I'm an Interventional Cardiologist with MidMichigan Health and Director of MidMichigan's Regional STEMI Program. To rapidly identify patients suffering from ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction also referred to as STEMI, the most serious type of heart attack, MidMichigan Health and MidMichigan Medical Center EMS have implemented a Regional STEMI Alert Program. This program is designed to train paramedics to quickly identify STEMI patients so that they may implement life-saving protocols to bypass the closest emergency department and take the patient to the nearest Percutaneous Coronary Intervention or PCI Center. With state protocols in place, MidMichigan's Regional STEMI Alert Program is approved for up to a 90-minute patient transport time to MidMichigan Medical Center Midland, the nearest PCI Center. To ensure overall success of the program, MidMichigan Medical Center EMS actively collaborates with other local EMS agencies to provide training and share best practices. Participating counties include Bay, Clair, Gladwin, Grashit, Isabella, Midland, Roscommon and Saginaw. We have also implemented the same process in the emergency departments at our Medical Centers in Alma, Clair, Gladwin and Midland. This means that if someone presents to the ER with heart attack signs and symptoms, an EKG is immediately performed and the same life-saving process is put into motion to expedite treatment and minimize damage to the heart. If you or loved one develop symptoms such as pain or discomfort in the chest, neck or left arm, immediately call 911 rather than driving to the emergency room. This maximizes the chance of surviving a heart attack. The ability of our specially trained paramedics to diagnose a STEMI heart attack and activate treatment can save over 30 minutes and potentially save your life. Upon arrival, the patient is taken directly to the cath lab so that blood flow can quickly be reestablished to their heart. We are extremely proud of the success of this regional program and our STEMI program partners. In fact, our program recently received the American Heart Association's Mission Lifeline EMS Gold Award for implementing quality improvement measures for the treatment of patients who experience severe heart attacks. If you would like more information on this program, you may visit minmichigan.org backslash STEMI.