The Emergency Medicine Team at Mason District Hospital recruite highly trained professionals to provide emergency medical treatment to those who live in our communities. The Emergency Department is open and staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

When someone calls 911, Mason County EMS’s Advanced Life Support Ambulance is dispatched from Havana or Mason City to provide care at the scene and on the way to the hospital. Mason county EMS provides the highest level of pre-hospital care in the State of Illinois.

Our 24 hour hospital Emergency Department is staffed a physician who specializes in emergency medicine, assisted by a team of Registered Nurses who are certified as Trauma Nurse Specialists. In addition, the staff maintains certifications in Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Pediatric Advanced Life Support.

Heart 777 Program

The Heart 777 Program is a regional response team that brings lifesaving treatment for heart attack victims quickly and has saved lives of many individuals who do not live close to a large medical center.

When it comes to a heart attack, time is everything. Mason District Hospital along with other central Illinois hospitals currently partner with OSF Saint Francis to expedite lifesaving treatment for patients experiencing a heart attack.

The program is named “Heart 777” after the three-digit code that healthcare professionals receive on their pagers when they are being summoned to respond to a heart attack. When the emergency physician at Mason District Hospital determines that a patient is a candidate for this program, they will notify OSF Saint Francis that we have a Heart 777 patient. The staff at Mason District Hospital is prepared to begin treatment immediately by following a protocol designed specifically for the care of patients having a heart attack.

A system will be immediately activated to either dispatch OSF Saint Francis Life Flight or secure the local ambulance to transport the patient to OSF Saint Francis, where a cardiac catheterization lab and a cardiologist will be ready for the patient upon arrival.

This streamlined process will save heart muscle, resulting in better outcomes for patients. By participating in the program, Mason District Hospital will be able to provide heart attack patients with quicker treatment to open blocked arteries. The national average is 90 minutes. For patients coming from the region, the goal is 120 minutes or less to open the artery.

Prairie Stat Heart Program

The Prairie Stat Heart Program was first developed by Prairie Cardiovascular physicians to move a heart attack patient from their community hospital emergency room to a cardiac cath lab in Springfield while the heart attack is still treatable. It has been estimated that thousands of lives could be saved each year if a program like Prairie Stat Heart were available nationally.

1. Here’s how it works: Patient arrives at Mason District Hospital ER with symptoms of a heart attack.
2. A specialized protocol is activated and immediate diagnosis is made.
3. For the most serious heart attacks, the Prairie Stat Heart Program is activated and team members in Springfield are activated.
4. Patient is prepared and transported to the Prairie Heart Insitiute at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield where Prairie Heart physicians and staff get ready for the patient.
5. Patient arrives and is transported to the heart catheterization lab where life-saving procedures are performed to restore the flow of blood.

All this is done with a goal of 90 minutes or less. Treating within this window of time insures that more patients will survive and more families stay together.

Illinois Neurological Institute Stroke Network

Mason District Hospital participates with over 25 Illinois hospitals in the INI Stroke Network. The INI Stroke Network is the largest rural stroke network in the nation, working together with hospitals to be leaders in the prevention, detection and treatment of brain attacks (stroke).

Early recognition of the symptoms of stroke and prompt medical attention at Mason District Hospital to provide acute stroke diagnosis and treatment is critical for best recovery following a brain attack. The development of the Stoke Network allows people in our rural area to go to Mason District Hospital to begin the assessment, testing and early treatment of acute strokes and transfer to a larger hospital for additional treatment. Now over 10 years strong, all rural hospitals in the Stroke Network have provided this level of care, given IV t-PA and transferred patients to the Illinois Neurological Stroke Center for further comprehensive stroke treatment.

The Illinois Neurological Institute (INI) was organized as a hospital within OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in 2000 and now administers the Stroke Network to provide leadership and ensure excellence in stroke care.