Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke Bronze Performance Achievement Award. The award recognizes Henry Mayo’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care by ensuring that stroke patients receive treatment according to nationally accepted standards and recommendations.

“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and the Get With The Guidelines–Stroke Bronze Performance Achievement Award addresses the important element of time,” said Mark Schultz, MD, board-certified neurologist and medical director for Henry Mayo’s Primary Stroke Center. Henry Mayo has developed a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department. This includes always being equipped to provide brain imaging scans, having neurologists available to conduct patient evaluations and using clot-busting medications when appropriate.

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“This rapid treatment can mean the difference between the patient becoming impaired from a stroke or being able to resume normal activities with minor to no damage,” added Dr. Schultz.

To receive the Get With The Guidelines–Stroke Bronze Performance Achievement Award, Henry Mayo consistently followed the treatment guidelines in the Get With The Guidelines–Stroke program for 90 days. These include aggressive use of medications like tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs, and smoking cessation. The 90-day evaluation period is the first in an ongoing self-evaluation by the hospital to continually reach the 85 percent compliance level needed to sustain this award.

“We commend Henry Mayo Hospital for its success in implementing standards of care and protocols,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., chair of the national Get With the Guidelines Steering Committee and director of the TeleStroke and Acute Stroke Services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “The full implementation of acute care and secondary prevention recommendations and guidelines is a critical step in saving the lives and improving outcomes of stroke patients.”

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 stroke. Through Get With The Guidelines–Stroke, customized patient education materials are made available at the point of discharge, based on patients’ individual risk profiles. The take-away materials are written in an easy-to-understand format and are available in English and Spanish. In addition, the Get With The Guidelines Patient Management Tool* provides access to up-to-date cardiovascular and stroke science at the point of care.

“Our stroke team is focused on improving the quality of stroke care by implementing Get With The Guidelines–Stroke. The number of acute ischemic stroke patients eligible for treatment is expected to grow over the next decade due to increasing stroke incidence and a large aging population,” said Dee Rickett, RN, MSN, director of critical care services at Henry Mayo.

“Stroke is a serious condition, but it can be treatable if caught in time,” explained Dr. Schultz. “Our ability to provide fast, brain-saving care matters to every patient who walks out of our hospital who would have otherwise been paralyzed or disabled for life as a result of a stroke—we do this for our patients and for those who love them.”

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of serious, long-term disability. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 45 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every three minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

For more information on stroke treatment at Henry Mayo or to learn how to quickly identify stroke symptoms, visit www.henrymayo.com.