Polk County Fire Rescue Earns Mission: Lifeline EMS® Gold Award for Second Straight Year

Published: May 8, 2026

Bartow, Fla. (May 8, 2026) — Polk County Fire Rescue’s dedication to exceptional prehospital care earned the organization the coveted American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline EMS® Gold Award for a second year in a row.

PCFR also earned the AHA’s Heart Attack and Stroke honor roll distinctions for going even further above and beyond to meet additional care criteria. Organizations receiving these awards and distinctions provide patients excellent rapid and researched-based prehospital stroke, heart attack and cardiac arrest care.

“Polk County Fire Rescue’s members work hard every day to provide Polk County residents and visitors the highest quality of medical care,” said Fire Chief Shawn Smith. “The AHA’s EMS Gold Award and honor roll distinctions prove that our EMS directives and member’s hard work are being nationally recognized.”

In 2025, PCFR members worked 299 ST-segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) heart attacks, 902 cardiac arrests and 1,539 stroke alerts for a total of 2,740 calls.

“Earning such an honor for a second year in a row is an impressive feat and shows just how dedicated our EMS members are to providing excellent care to anyone in need,” said Deputy Chief Charles True. “I can oversee our EMS members operations and aid in skill development, but at the end of the day our members are the ones making the life-saving decisions that earned these awards.”

Mission: Lifeline EMS® recognition is the American Heart Association’s program that recognizes prehospital emergency agencies for their quality of care for heart attack and stroke patients. The recognition program focuses on transforming care quality by connecting all heart attack and stroke care components into a seamlessly integrated care system. Key tenets of these systems of care reinforce evidence-based guidelines and measure performance, identify gaps, and engage in quality improvement.

For more information, visit heart.org.

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