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QUINCY, ILL. -- If you've ever suffered a heart attack, you know the stress that comes with it.

Blessing Hospital is trying to make that period of your life easier to handle with a quicker response. Thirty eight minutes is the average time it takes for Blessing's staff to identify a heart attack and get blood flowing back to your heart. It's a new record for Blessing.

Wednesday afternoon, staff held a small celebration with all who help make that time a reality. Among the crowd were EMS, ER doctors, nurses and a heart attack survivor.

"The national average is 60 minutes. The goal is less than 90 minutes. So we even beat the national average and that's what we're celebrating today," said Dr. Steven Krause, Blessing's cardiac cath lab director.

"This is very difficult to achieve. It's not an easy thing. There are many contributors. The EMS team has done a great job; ER doctors a phenomenal job. Cath lab nurses bring the patient up fast, and physicians and supportive staff," said Dr. Stilianos Efstratiadis.

"This 38 minutes benchmark means a lot to us, just simply because we know people in our area region are being helped more quickly," said Adams County EMS Director Paul Davis.