Commitment To Excellence In Stroke Care

In recognition of its commitment and success in implementing excellent care for stroke patients, Mercy Medical Center has received two consecutive Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Awards from the American Heart Association / American Stroke Association.

Get With The Guidelines is the American Heart Association / American Stroke Association's hospital-based quality improvement program that enables healthcare teams to save more lives and reduce healthcare costs by following evidence-based guidelines and recommendations.

To receive the awards Mercy achieved 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month periods and achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with six of ten Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Measures.

Those measures include aggressive use of medications, anticoagulation therapy, prevention of Deep Vein Thrombosis, cholesterol-reducing drugs and smoking cessation - all aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients.

Mercy also is a New York State-Designated Stroke Center with a dedicated multidisciplinary Stroke Team that includes emergency physicians, neurologists, neurosurgeons, radiologists, nurse practitioners, nurses, vascular surgeons, and rehabilitation specialists. Stroke-Center designation indicates that Mercy's team meets nationally-recognized criteria for a strict protocol or program of care for patients presenting with symptoms of stroke with a rapid, definitive treatment plan.

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.