Atlanta Mission: Lifeline

Atlanta Mission: Lifeline is a coordinated, proactive system of care that turns local first responders, hospitals and other healthcare providers into a team. When a cardiac arrest, heart attack or stroke strikes, every second matters. Patients need a seamless lifeline that offers them the best possible fighting chance for survival.

In 2010, a coalition of hospitals and EMS companies in the greater metro Atlanta region came together to address gaps in care, create systems where they don’t currently exist, and provide innovative tools and measures to improve the speed and quality of care. In 2016, our work expanded to include NSTEMI. The program focuses on using evidence-based guidelines to treat patients with acute, high-risk, time-sensitive, life-threatening disease states.

There are currently nine participating counties including Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Paulding. Within these counties, there are 37 Emergency Medical Services (EMS) agencies and 21 ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) – a very serious type of heart attack during which one of the heart's major arteries is blocked – receiving hospitals working together to significantly improve patient care.

Using the American Heart Association’s evidence-based Get With The Guidelines® Coronary Artery Disease patient management tool and registry, Atlanta Mission: Lifeline is making a big difference in the lives of patients suffering heart attacks.