Mercy earns national recognition for excellence in stroke care

Mercy Medical Center has received the American Heart Association’s Gold Plus Get With The Guidelines® – Stroke Quality Achievement Award for excellence in treating stroke. This award acknowledges Mercy’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines.

Stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the U.S. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds, and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year. Early stroke detection and treatment are key to improving survival, minimizing disability and speeding recovery times.

Get With The Guidelines – Stroke was developed to assist healthcare professionals in providing the most up-to-date, research-based guidelines for treating stroke patients.

“Mercy is honored to be recognized by the American Heart Association for our dedication to helping our patients have the best possible chance of survival after a stroke,” said Robert Struthers, MD, medical director of Mercy’s stroke program. “Get With The Guidelines – Stroke inspires our teams to put proven knowledge and guidelines to work on a daily basis to improve outcomes for stroke patients.”

Program participants, like Mercy, earn the award by demonstrating their organization’s commitment to providing quality care for stroke patients. In addition to following treatment guidelines, Mercy also provides education to patients to help them manage their health and rehabilitation once at home.

The award recognizes hospitals that demonstrate at least 85 percent compliance in each of the seven Get With The Guidelines – Stroke Achievement Measures. Each tier – bronze, silver and gold – is determined by the length of demonstrated performance.