Huntington Memorial Hospital Receives Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award

Huntington Memorial Hospital has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, it was announced today.

The award recognizes Huntington Hospital’s commitment and success in implementing excellent care for stroke patients, according to evidence-based guidelines.

To receive the award, Huntington Hospital achieved 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month intervals, according to a news statement.

The hospital also achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with six of 10 Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Measures, which are reporting initiatives to measure quality of care, according to the statement.

Get With The Guidelines–Stroke uses the “teachable moment,” the time soon after a patient has had a stroke, when they are most likely to listen to and follow their healthcare professionals’ guidance.

Studies demonstrate that patients who are taught how to manage their risk factors while still in the hospital reduce their risk of a second heart attack or stroke, according to the news statement.

“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and the Get With The Guidelines–Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award demonstrates our hospital’s commitment to being one of the top hospitals in the country for providing aggressive, proven stroke care,” said Bonnie Kass, RN, senior vice president of hospital operations.

“We will continue with our focus on providing care that has been shown in the scientific literature to quickly and efficiently treat stroke patients with evidence-based protocols,” Kass said.

In addition to the Get With The Guideline-Stroke award, Huntington Hospital has also been recognized as a recipient of the association’s Target: Stroke Honor Roll, for improving stroke care.

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is one of the leading causes of death and serious, long-term disability in the United States. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every four minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.