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The minute a heart attack begins, every second counts. Doctors, staff and the cardiology team must be ready to perform at a moment’s notice. At the University of Toledo Medical Center, physicians pride themselves on delivering life-saving care in a quick and effective manner.

“Door time” refers to a patient’s initial arrival at the hospital. “Balloon time” indicates the point at which cardiologists inflate an angioplasty balloon to open up the blocked artery, allowing blood to flow through.

According to the American College of Cardiology, the standard door-to-balloon time is no more than 90 minutes. UT Medical Center surpasses the industry benchmark with an average door-to-balloon time of 59 minutes. This impressive time places UT Medical Center in the top 5 percent of 857 academic medical centers nationwide.

UT Medical Center’s response unit’s dexterity was evident when Anna Chlebowski arrived in the emergency department on a December night last year. “She actually had 90 percent blockage,” says William Colyer, MD interventional cardiologist at UT Medical Center, who treated Chlebowski that night. “We were able to get that blockage down to zero percent.”

Thanks to UT Medical Center’s exceptional door-to-balloon response time, Chlebowski’s heart is in great condition. “I’m still using UT Medical Center to make my heart stronger. I’m in the cardiac and rehabilitation program, exercising and lifting weights all the time,” she says.

Despite the lofty ranking, UT Medical Center is certainly not resting on its success. “Anna is a real success story,” Dr. Colyer says. “We take feedback from cases like Anna’s and apply what we did right, as well as look for possible areas of improvement.

Healthy lifestyle choices to help prevent heart attack include:

• Follow a low-fat diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Pay careful attention to the amounts and types of fat in your diet. Lower your salt intake. These changes can help lower high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol.
• Quit smoking.
• Exercise. Work up to at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise (that raises your heart rate) at least four times a week.
• Get regular medical checkups. Some of the major risk factors for heart attack — high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes — cause no symptoms in their early stages.
• Maintain a healthy weight. Excess weight strains your heart and can contribute to high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes. Losing weight can lower your risk of heart disease.
• Manage stress. To reduce your risk of a heart attack, reduce stress in your day-to-day activities. Find healthy ways to minimize or deal with stressful events in your life.
• Consume alcohol in moderation. Drinking more than one to two alcoholic drinks a day raises blood pressure, so cut back on your drinking if necessary.

Learn about heart and vascular services at UT Medical Center.

Do you need a primary care physician who can help you take charge of your health?

For university-quality care, call 800.556.5444.