Memorial Medical Center-Lufkin receives Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement

Memorial Medical Center-Lufkin recently received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award which recognizes the hospital’s commitment and success in implementing excellent care for stroke patients, according to evidence-based guidelines.

This award represents the highest level of stroke care in the East Texas area. Memorial is Lufkin’s only certified advanced primary care stroke center.

“This award shows Memorial’s commitment to providing aggressive, proven stroke care,” Memorial President and CEO Gary Looper said. “We will continue with our focus on providing care that has been shown in the scientific literature to quickly and efficiently treat stroke patients with evidence-based protocols.”

A representative from the American Heart Association was on hand this month to present the award to members of Memorial’s stroke team and other hospital administrators.

To receive the advanced award, Memorial achieved of 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month intervals. The hospital also achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with six of 10 Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Measures.

These measures of quality care include aggressive use of medications, such as t-PA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs and smoking cessation, all aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients.

In 2011, Memorial Medical Center-Lufkin also received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke Silver Quality Achievement Award.

Get With The Guidelines–Stroke initiative works with patients after they have had a stroke, when they are most likely to listen to and follow their healthcare professionals’ guidance. 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 gives healthcare providers access to up-to-date cardiovascular and stroke science at the point of care.

“The time is right for Memorial to be focused on improving the quality of stroke care,” Looper said. “Along with our partnership with The Methodist Hospital in Houston to provide continuing education for our community about stroke and increase the administration of  t-PA, Memorial is committed to quality care of our stroke patients. We are proud to receive this award which exemplifies the work being done here.”

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.

Cutline: Memorial Medical Center-Lufkin recently received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. Pictured (from left to right): Suzanne Monsour, Program Administrator for the East Texas Stroke Initiative; Maureen Winchell, Interim Chief Nursing Officer; Jana Rains, RN; Margie Brown, LVN; Peggy Smith, Director of Quality and Systems Improvement for the American Heart Association; Sunil Cherry, MD; Cherry Matthews, MD; Gary Looper, President and CEO; Angela Hess, Stroke Program Clinical Coordinator; Sabrina Lillard, Stroke Program Education Coordinator; and Rhonda Stephenson, RN BSN, Clinical Quality Coordinator.