Kudos to our AMI (acute myocardial infarction) Team that set a new Saint Agnes door-to-balloon (D2B) record of 14 minutes in December 2008! This new time shattered the Medical Center's previous best of 21 minutes.

Door-to-balloon time is calculated from the time a heart patient enters the Emergency Department through the time it takes to open the blocked artery. The sooner blood flow can be restored, the less permanent damage to the heart. 

Saint Agnes is among leading organizations focused on improving D2Bs. Knowing that every minute counts when it comes to a heart attack, staff and physicians have paid special attention during the past few years to making D2B times more efficient.

In 2008, Saint Agnes was named a Mentor Hospital for AMI by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). At Saint Agnes, the average D2B time in 2008 was 55 minutes, with a number of times in the 20s and 30s.

The national recommendation by the College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association is 90 minutes.