Sacred Heart Hospital has received the American Heart Association-American Stroke Association “Get With The Guidelines- Stroke” Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award.

The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment and success in ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally-recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

To receive the Silver Plus Quality Achievement award, hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all “Get With The Guidelines-Stroke” achievement indicators for at least 12 consecutive months and during the same period achieve 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight “Get With The Guidelines-Stroke” quality measures.

The quality measures help hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. They focus on appropriate use of guideline-based care for stroke patients, including aggressive use of medications such as clot-busting and anti-clotting drugs, blood thinners and cholesterol-reducing drugs, preventive action for deep vein thrombosis and smoking cessation counseling.

“A stroke patient loses 1.9 million neurons each minute stroke treatment is delayed. This recognition further demonstrates our commitment to delivering advanced stroke treatments to patients quickly and safely,” said Dr. H. Donald Wills, Stroke Director. “Sacred Heart Hospital continues to strive for excellence in the acute treatment of stroke patients. The recognition from the American Heart Association-American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke further reinforces our team’s hard work.”

Sacred Heart Hospital has 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.

“The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association recognize Sacred Heart Hospital for its commitment to stroke care,” said Paul Heidenreich, M.D., M.S., national chairman of the “Get With The Guidelines” Steering Committee and Professor of Medicine at Stanford University. “Research has shown there are benefits to patients who are treated at hospitals that have adopted the ‘Get With The Guidelines’ program.”

According to the American Heart Association-American Stroke Association, stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds, someone dies of a stroke every four minutes, and nearly 800,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.