Phelps Memorial Hospital Center Receives "Gold Plus" Award from American Stroke Association

For the sixth year in a row, Phelps Memorial Hospital Center has received the Get With the Guidelines-Stroke “Gold Plus” Achievement Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association for the treatment of stroke patients.

Get With the Guidelines-Stroke (GWTG) helps hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, research-based treatments with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Phelps earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period. These measures include the aggressive use of medications and risk-reduction therapies.

“Phelps is dedicated to improving the quality of stroke care, and Get With the Guidelines helps us achieve that goal,” said Elaine Gardner, BSN, RN, CCRN, Stroke Coordinator. “With this award, our hospital demonstrates our commitment to ensure that our patients receive care based on internationally-respected clinical guidelines.”

“We are pleased to recognize Phelps for their commitment and dedication to stroke care,” said Deepak L. Bhatt, M.D., M.P.H., national chairman of the Get With the Guidelines steering committee and Executive Director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Studies have shown that hospitals that consistently follow GWTG quality improvement measures can reduce patients’ length of stays and 30-day readmission rates and reduce disparity gaps in care.”

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 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.

To contact the Stroke Center at Phelps, call 914-366-3397. For more information on Get With the Guidelines, visit www.americanheart.org/getwiththeguidelines.

In the photo left to right: Sanda Carniciu, MD, Physician Director of the Stroke Center; Elaine Gardner, BSN, RN, CCRN, Stroke Coordinator; Daniel Blum, President & CEO; Ben Siniscalchi, Manager of Radiology.