Montclair Hospital Receives Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award – reminder, 80% of strokes can be prevented!

Eighty percent of strokes are preventable, according to The American Heart and American Stroke Associations

Hackensack Meridian Health Mountainside Medical Center has received the 2017 American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold 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 Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month periods and achieve 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality measures.

“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. David Blady, Medical Director of the Stroke Committee. “Mountainside Medical Center 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.”

Mountainside Medical Center is committed to educating the public about the warning signs that a stroke may be imminent. Those warning signs can be summed up in one word – FAST.

FAST action saves lives and improves recovery.

F for Face drooping – Does one side of the person’s face droop or does it feel numb? The best way to tell is to ask the person to smile and note if the smile is uneven or lopsided.

A for Arm weakness – Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm keep drooping downward?

S for Speech difficulty – Is the person unable to speak, slurring words, or hard to understand? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence, like “The sky is blue.” Can the person clearly and correctly repeat the words?

T for Time to call 911. If someone demonstrates any one of these symptoms, even if the symptoms go away, call 911 immediately and let the dispatcher know that you think someone may be having a stroke. Time is of the essence. For the majority of strokes, a medication, r-tPA, must be administered within three hours of a stroke’s onset in order to help reduce its long-term effects. Don’t forget to note the time when the first symptoms appear so that you can inform emergency responders when they arrive.

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the number five 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.

Eighty percent of strokes are a result of lifestyle. There are multiple factors that can increase your risk of stroke, but the most significant one is high blood pressure or hypertension. It is recommended that people monitor their blood pressure with regular check-ups and be diligent about taking prescribed medications to lower it. Other factors that can increase risk of stroke include smoking, diabetes, a diet high in saturated fat and trans fat, high cholesterol, physical inactivity, obesity, and other heart diseases.

About Hackensack Meridian Health Mountainside Medical Center

Mountainside Medical Center has been serving Montclair and its surrounding New Jersey communities since 1891. The hospital provides patients immediate access to innovative and effective treatment alternatives at specialized centers within the hospital that focus on imaging, women’s health, cancer care, surgery, obesity, stroke and chronic kidney disease. Mountainside Medical Center is designated as a Primary Stroke Center by the NJ State Department of Health and Senior Services and is one of only a few community hospitals licensed by the State to perform emergency cardiac angioplasty. To learn more about Mountainside Medical Center visitwww.mountainsidehosp.com.

About Hackensack Meridian Health

Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care. Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 13 hospitals, including two academic medical centers, two children's hospitals andnine community hospitals, physician practices, more than 120 ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, and urgent care and after-hours centers. Hackensack Meridian Health has 28,000 team members, more than 6,000 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.

The Network's notable distinctions include having one of only five major academic medical centers in the nation to receive Healthgrades America's 50 Best Hospitals Award for five or more consecutive years, the number one hospital in New Jersey as ranked by U.S. News and World Report, consistently achieving Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, recipient of the John M. Eisenberg Award for Patient Safety and Quality from The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum, a six-time recipient of Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For," one of the "20 Best Workplaces in Health Care" in the nation, and the number one "Best Place to Work for Women." Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.

The hospitals of Hackensack Meridian Health include: academic medical centers – Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune; children's hospitals – Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital in Neptune; community hospitals – Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, and Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood.

For additional information, please visit www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org.

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