HackensackUMC Receives American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’sGold Plus Achievement Award and Designation on the Target: Stroke Honor Roll
June 19, 2012 10:06 AM
HackensackUMC is proud to announce that it has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus Achievement Award for its commitment and success in implementing excellent care for stroke patients. The medical center has also been recognized as a recipient of the association’s Target: Stroke Honor Roll, for improving stroke care.
“We are honored to receive the Get With The Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus Achievement Award,” said Robert C. Garrett, president and chief executive officer of HackensackUMC. “When a stroke occurs, any time lost can result in brain damage, and this recognition demonstrates our commitment to being one of the top hospitals in the country for providing aggressive, proven stroke care.”
To receive the award, HackensackUMC achieved of 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month intervals andachieved 75 percentor higher compliance with six of 10 Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Measures, which are reporting initiatives to measure quality of care. These measures includeaggressive use of medications, such as antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs and smoking cessation, all aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients.
HackensackUMC received the Target: Stroke Honor Roll designation for improving stroke care. During the past quarter, at least 50 percent of the hospital’s eligible ischemic stroke patients have received tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, within 60 minutes of arriving at the hospital (known as ‘door-to-needle’ time). If given intravenously in the first three hours after the start of stroke symptoms, tPA has been shown to significantly reverse the effects of stroke and reduce permanent disability.
“I would like to commend Dr. Dev Gupta, chairman of the Department of Neurology, as well as Dr. Subasini Dash, director of the Stroke Center, and their entire team for the work they are doing to improve the lives of stroke victims,” said Ihor S. Sawczuk, M.D., executive vice president and chief medical officer. “We strive to remain at the forefront of clinical excellence and these designations solidify our mission.”
“HackensackUMC is to be commended for its commitment to implementing standards of care and protocols for treating stroke patients,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., chair of the Get With The Guidelines® National 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.”
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.
About Hackensack University Medical Center
HackensackUMC, a non-profit teaching and research hospital located in Bergen County, New Jersey, is the largest provider of inpatient and outpatient services in the state, and home to the only Level II Trauma Center in the county. This 775-bed facility has gone beyond traditional thinking by creating an entire campus of care, including: the Heart & Vascular Hospital, the John Theurer Cancer Center, the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital, and the Donna A. Sanzari Women’s Hospital. As a result of using science and creativity to push medicine further, HackensackUMC has been named one of the Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals® and one of America's 50 Best Hospitals by HealthGrades®. It is listed among the Leapfrog Top Hospitals List, received 17 Gold Seals of Approval™ by the Joint Commission, is ranked in Cancer, Cardiology and Heart Surgery, and Geriatrics by U.S. News and World Report's "2011-12 Best Hospitals" list, is ranked in eight specialties on U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals Metro Area Top 10,” is listed as one of the 50 Best Hospitals in America by Becker’s Hospital Review, and is a Magnet® recognized hospital for nursing excellence, the first hospital in New Jersey and second in the nation. The medical center is the hometown hospital of the New York Giants and the New Jersey Nets, and remains committed to its community through fundraising and community events. To learn more about one of the nation’s top 50 hospitals, visit: www.HackensackUMC.org.
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