May 18, 2015, Pompton Plains, NJ – Chilton Medical Center has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: StrokeSM Honor Roll Elite. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment and success ensuring that stroke patients receive the most up-to-date, evidence-based care with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients.
Chilton Medical Center 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 reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke. If given intravenously in the first three hours after the start of stroke symptoms, tPA has been shown to significantly reduce the effects of stroke and lessen the chance of permanent disability.
“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and the Get With The Guidelines–Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award demonstrates Chilton’s commitment to being one of the top hospitals in the nation for providing aggressive, proven stroke care,” said Alan Lieber, interim president of Chilton Medical Center and Vice President, Atlantic Health System. “This award demonstrates to our community that our patients receive care based on internationally-respected clinical guidelines.”
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.
Chilton Medical Center is designated a Primary Stroke Center by both the Joint Commission and The New Jersey Department of Health. Primary Stroke Center status is earned by hospitals that meet strict guidelines for the rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke. Additionally, Chilton Medical Center offers stroke telemedicine, where patients in the Emergency Department are afforded immediate access, via a remote connection, to the neurologists at Atlantic Neuroscience Institute at Overlook Medical Center.
“We are pleased to recognize Chilton Medical Center for their commitment 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 Get With The Guidelines quality improvement measures can reduce length of stay and 30-day readmission rates and reduce disparities in care.”
For providers, Get With The Guidelines-Stroke provide hospitals with resources and information that make it easier to follow treatment guidelines, which can help save lives and ultimately reduce overall healthcare costs by lowering readmission rates for stroke patients. Get With The Guidelines-Stroke also helps stroke patient manage risk factors while still in the hospital and recognize the F.A.S.T. warning signs of a stroke:
F – Face Drooping. Ask the person to smile. Is the smile is uneven?
A – Arm Weakness. Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
S – Speech Difficulty. Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence. Is speech slurred or hard to understand?
T – Time to call 9-1-1. If you notice ANY of these symptoms, call 9-1-1 and get the person to the nearest hospital. Check the time to note when symptoms first appeared.
About Chilton Medical Center
Chilton Medical Center, located in Pompton Plains, NJ, is a part of Atlantic Health System, one of the largest non-profit health care systems in New Jersey that includes Morristown Medical Center and Goryeb Children’s Hospital in Morristown, NJ, Overlook Medical Center in Summit, NJ and Newton Medical Center in Newton, NJ. A fully accredited, 260-bed, acute-care, community hospital, Chilton Medical Center is designated a Primary Stroke Center by both the Joint Commission and the New Jersey Department of Health. Chilton Medical Center is committed to providing innovative patient care in a compassionate and healing environment focused on personalized care.
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About Get With The Guidelines
Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 5 million patients since 2001.