My Heart Score - What is a Heart Attack?
Every year approximately 1.5 million Americans suffer a heart attack. More than 500,000 die from the heart attack---and over half of those die before they reach the hospital. In most cases, the heart attack started with chest pain or discomfort. The unfortunate fact is that too many people simply dismiss chest pain as heartburn or a pulled muscle. Still others deny the pain altogether.

Warning signs of a heart attack include:
An uncomfortable pressure, fullness, aching, squeezing or burning pain, or tightness in the center of your chest. The pain may spread to your shoulders, neck jaw or arms.
The discomfort lasts for more than 2 minutes.
You may also have sweating, dizziness, fainting, nausea, vomiting or severe indigestion.
Shortness of breath is also common.
Symptoms are individual for each person. You may have 1 or 2 of the symptoms listed or several symptoms all at once.

If you have a heart attack or experience symptoms, you need immediate and accurate diagnosis and treatment. Expert treatment within the first hour of pain can often decrease or avoid permanent damage to vital heart muscle!

Chest Pain Evaluation Centers
At Kettering Memorial and Sycamore hospitals, our special Chest Pain Evaluation Centers have everything needed to diagnose and treat chest pain. We treat more than 4,000 chest pain patients per year, and our experienced team stands ready to help you around the clock.

  • Board-certified emergency medicine physicians
  • Registered nurses certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS)
  • Board-certified cardiologist on call 24 hours a day