Minutes That Matter: New Heart Attack Response Process Delivers Extraordinary Results at Orlando Health Sebastian River Hospital

SEBASTIAN, Fl – (October 19, 2026) — In heart attack care, every minute matters. At Orlando Health Sebastian River Hospital, two recent cases are showing just how powerful clinical precision, teamwork and preparation can be when a patient’s life is on the line.

Within the same week, the hospital’s emergency, EMS and cardiac catheterization teams achieved door-to-balloon times of 14 minutes and 13 minutes for two patients experiencing ST-elevation myocardial infarctions, or STEMIs, which is one of the most serious types of heart attacks.

Door-to-balloon time measures the time from a patient’s arrival at the hospital to the moment a blocked coronary artery is reopened during a catheterization procedure. For context, the national guideline benchmark for door-to-balloon time is 90 minutes or less, and recent STEMI studies report median times closer to 69 to 79 minutes, according to the American College of Cardiology.

These remarkable times came about due to a new process the Orlando Health Sebastian River Hospital Emergency Department and Cardiovascular Services Department have been working on for roughly a year. It involves a carefully coordinated system, starting with EMS teams coordinating a direct path to the Cath Lab, designed to move with urgency, accuracy and clinical excellence.

“Cases like this show what is possible when every part of the care team is aligned around one goal: restoring blood flow as quickly and safely as possible,” said Dr. Charles Croft, interventional cardiologist at Orlando Health Sebastian River Hospital. “When a STEMI is identified early and the team is ready before the patient arrives, we can eliminate delays and make a meaningful difference in the patient’s outcome.”

In Dr. Croft's 13-minute door-to-balloon case, an 80-year-old man arrived at Orlando Health Sebastian River Hospital after experiencing chest pain. After the Brevard County Fire Rescue Station 86 EMS team transmitted an EKG confirming a heart attack, the care team collaborated with the interventional cardiologists and their team at the hospital to streamline the chain of survival and get the patient directly to the Cath Lab, where blood flow to his heart was restored in just 13 minutes. He recovered well and was moved out of intensive care overnight.

In the other case, an 87-year-old man came in with crushing chest pain that Indian River County Fire Rescue Station 8 identified as a heart attack in the field and transmitted the information in route to Orlando Health Sebastian River Hospital.

Working seamlessly with first responders, the Orlando Health Sebastian River Hospital team coordinated care before the patient's arrival and brought him directly to the Cath Lab, where Dr. Michael Girard restored blood flow to his heart in just 14 minutes. He recovered quickly, went back to the Cath Lab to fix another vessel the next day and was discharged home the following day.

“The success of these cases start with our EMS partners,” said Garrett Lamp, EMS liaison for Orlando Health East Region. “Their ability to quickly identify a heart attack, transmit critical information from the field and alert our team before the patient arrives is essential. That early recognition and clear communication allowed us to activate our new process and help achieve these extraordinary door-to-balloon times.”

“This is clinical teamwork at its highest level,” said Dr. Girard, interventional cardiologist at Orlando Health Sebastian River Hospital. “A 14-minute door-to-balloon time requires excellent care by EMS before the patient reaches the hospital, immediate communication, rapid decision-making and a Cath Lab team prepared to act. It is the result of a process built around the patient.”

Innovation in healthcare isn't always about new technology; sometimes it's teams coming together to brainstorm a better way.

“We designed this approach to eliminate unnecessary delays and get patients to treatment faster. Seeing it produce 13- and 14-minute door-to-balloon times during its first week in use is a testament to the dedication of our physicians, nurses, EMS partners and Cath Lab teams. When every minute counts, that coordination can save heart muscle and preserve quality of life,” said Brian ONell, director of cardiovascular services at Orlando Health Sebastian River Hospital, who helped develop the hospital's new process alongside the hospital emergency medical department director, Dr. Robert Ford.

The rapid response in both cases underscores the importance of seamless coordination among EMS, Emergency Department physicians and nurses, interventional cardiologists, Cath Lab team members, ICU staff and hospital leaders committed to continuously improving care for the community.

About Orlando Health

Orlando Health is a private not-for-profit, integrated academic healthcare system with $15 billion of assets under management, that serves the southeastern United States – including Florida and Alabama – and Puerto Rico. With corporate offices in Orlando, Florida the system provides a complete continuum of care across a network of medical centers and institutes, community and specialty hospitals, physician practices, urgent care facilities, skilled nursing facilities, home healthcare, and long-term and behavioral health care services. Founded more than 100 years ago, Orlando Health’s mission is to improve the health and the quality of life of the individuals and communities we serve. The system provided nearly $1.7 billion in community impact in the form of community benefit programs and services, Medicare shortfalls, bad debt, community-building activities and capital investments in FY 23, the most recent period for which the information is available. For more information, visit orlandohealth.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and X.