Bartow, Fla. (June 10, 2025) — The Polk County Fire Rescue team received the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline® EMS Gold Award for their commitment to saving lives. Organizations receive the award for administering excellent prehospital care to stroke, heart attack and cardiac arrest patients. Organizations that have sustained excellent service and met the necessary criteria multiple years in a row, receive the Gold Award.
“Polk County Fire Rescue’s recognition with the American Heart Association’s Mission Lifeline EMS Gold award means a lot to the members of our organization,” said Fire Chief Shawn Smith. “The gold distinction proves our team delivers on their commitment of providing first-rate pre-hospital patient care to Polk County residents and visitors. This recognition would not have happened without the tireless support of the Polk County Board of County Commissioners, Polk County leadership, Dr. Banerjee and his Office of Medical Direction staff and most importantly our members who provide the award-winning care.”
In 2024, PCFR members worked 1,048 STEMI and 1,489 stroke alerts for a total of 2,537 calls.
PCFR crews maintained the required 75% or greater annual compliance of the AHAEMS measure 1-7 (https://www.heart.org/en/-/media/Files/Professional/Quality-Improvement/Mission-Lifeline/2025-EMS-ML-Measure-Narratives-Final.pdf?sc_lang=en.) These measures include 9-1-1 dispatchers informing crews of potentials strokes patients before their arrival at the patient’s location, documentation of the patient’s last known time of regular healthy function, evaluation of the patient’s blood glucose level, performance and documentation of a stroke screen and its score and performing an Electrocardiogram (ECG) — more commonly known as EKG — within 10 minutes of first contact with the patient. Additional requirement includes crews must provide suspected heart attack patients aspirin and if they receive a positive ECG for a ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), they must notify the receiving medical facility — during transport and within 10 minutes — of the positive test. The maintenance of the 75% or greater for a second straight year upgrades PCFR’s award from the silver level received in 2024.
“Achieving the prestigious American Heart Association Mission Lifeline Gold EMS award signifies Polk County Fire Rescue’s continued dedication to delivering the highest-quality prehospital care for heart attack and stroke patients,” said Polk County Fire Rescue Medical Director Paul Banerjee, D.O. “This honor is a tribute to the Polk County Fire Rescue Office of Medical Direction team and to the dedicated team members that work tirelessly year after year providing on exemplary standard of care. It’s also a reflection of the great collaboration between Polk County Fire Rescue and our hospital partners to provide optimal Stroke and STEMI care for the residents of Polk County.”
The Mission: Lifeline® EMS is an American Heart Association award that focuses on the quality of care and outcomes for prehospital stroke, heart attack and cardiac arrest patients by connecting all care components into a seamlessly integrated care system.