Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of men and women.

• Author: Chamber, Kristy
• Position: Mountainstar Health

It's an often reported fact. You've heard it before. "Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of men and women in the United States." Most people would readily agree - they don't want to be part of that statistic!

Yet, it doesn't seem to motivate as many people as you'd expect to take action quickly when they might be having a heart attack. Nationwide, 40 percent of patients do not call 911 and the average patient arrives in the emergency department more than two hours after symptom onset.

Some of those people explain away pressure in their chest or stomach as indigestion. They blame the sudden shortness of breath or breaking out in a cold sweat on a cold or flu virus. Some people will risk death rather than be embarrassed if they're not really having a heart attack. And sadly, others are concerned about the cost of an ambulance ride.

Whatever the reason, the tragic truth is that too many people do not get help in time when they are having potential heart attack symptoms. In the MountainStar Healthcare network, 2013 data confirms that the trend in Utah is similar to the national dilemma:

St. Mark's Hospital in Salt Lake City

80 percent arrived in a private vehicle

20 percent arrived by ambulance

Brigham City Community Hospital

82 percent arrived by private vehicle

18 percent by ambulance

Mountain View Hospital in Payson

76 percent arrived by private vehicle

24 percent by ambulance

Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem

70 percent arrived by private vehicle

30 percent by ambulance

Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful

66 percent arrived by private vehicle

34 percent by ambulance

Ogden Regional Medical Center

64 percent arrived by private vehicle

38 percent by ambulance

Lone Peak Hospital in Draper

38 percent arrived by private vehicle

62 percent by ambulance

Last year, a concerning number of people in communities throughout Utah didn't take advantage of a faster diagnosis and reduced treatment times enabled by 12-lead EKG technology in ambulances. They didn't seem to know that the most effective time to treat heart attacks is within one hour after symptoms start. As a result, they unknowingly delayed heart-muscle-saving and perhaps life-saving treatment.

At MountainStar hospitals, our heart care teams are trained to fully utilize the national door-to-balloon time initiative. This standard of care aims to decrease the time it takes to clear the blocked artery causing a heart attack with a balloon angioplasty.

Since it was launched in 2005, hospitals across...