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Loma Linda University Medical Center-Murrieta has been certified to treat victims of severe heart attacks.
The hospital is the fifth medical facility in Riverside County authorized to treat heart attacks, along with Riverside Community Hospital and three hospitals in the Palm Springs area, according to a published report.
The certification was announced during a news conference in late August at the medical center.
Loma Linda-Murrieta was named a STEMI receiving center; the acronym refers to the most serious kind of heart attack, when at least one of three major arteries are completely blocked.
About 10 percent of all heart attacks are in that category, according to the report.
Loma Linda-Murrieta opened in April 2011, making it the newest hospital in Southwest Riverside County. One year later, Loma-Linda Murrieta began performing interventional cardiology, and in January of this year it began treating heart attack victims with blocked arteries, according to the report.
More than 70 heart attack victims have been treated at Loma Linda-Murrieta since the start of the year, according to the report.
