Saint Mary's Sacred Heart Hospital issued the following announcement on Nov. 19.
St. Mary's Hospital in Athens and St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital in Lavonia have received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association 2021 Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the two hospitals’ commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines.
St. Mary’s received the AHA’s Gold-Plus Award for stroke care for the 12th year in a row. Sacred Heart Hospital received its first silver-plus award for stroke care.
Stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the U.S. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds, and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year. Early stroke detection and treatment are key to improving survival, minimizing disability and speeding recovery times.
Get With The Guidelines-Stroke was developed to assist healthcare professionals to provide the most up-to-date, research-based guidelines for treating stroke patients.
“St. Mary's Health Care System is honored to be recognized by the American Heart Association for our dedication to helping our patients have the best possible chance of survival and recovery after a stroke,” said Montez Carter, St. Mary's President and CEO.
Sacred Heart Hospital President Jeff English added, “Get With The Guidelines-Stroke makes it easier for our teams to put proven knowledge and guidelines to work on a daily basis to improve outcomes for stroke patients.”
Each year, program participants apply for the award recognition by demonstrating how their organization has committed to providing quality care for stroke patients. In addition to following treatment guidelines, participants also provide education to patients to help them manage their health and rehabilitation once at home.
“We are pleased to recognize St. Mary's and Sacred Heart hospitals for their commitment to stroke care,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., national chairperson of the Quality Oversight Committee and Executive Vice Chair of Neurology, Director of Acute Stroke Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. “Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines quality improvement initiative can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.”
St. Mary's Hospital also received the Association’s Target: StrokeSM Honor Roll award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke, the type of stroke caused by blood clots blocking blood vessels that serve the brain.
St. Mary's also met specific scientific guidelines as a Primary Stroke Center, featuring a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department. Recently, St. Mary's became the region's first hospital to offer 24/7 mechanical thrombectomy – the physical removal of large vessel blood clots that cause some of the worst strokes. This additional service line will be evaluated in the 2022 Get With the Guidelines recognition process.
In addition to its silver-plus award, St. Mary's Sacred Heart Hospital also received the AHA’s Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll Award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet quality measures developed with more than 90% of compliance for 12 consecutive months for the “Overall Diabetes Cardiovascular Initiative Composite Score.”
Original source can be found here.
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