Heart Association gives St. John’s Episcopal Hospital a ‘Gold Plus’

The American Heart Association / American Stroke Association has awarded St. John’s Episcopal Hospital a Gold-Plus Quality Achievement citation for implementing quality improvement measures for the treatment of patients suffering from a stroke.

The Far Rockaway medical center was also placed on the Association’s Target: Stroke Honor Roll for meeting stroke quality measures that reduce the time between hospital arrival and treatment with the clot-busting drug tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke. tPA is a tissue plasminogen activator.  People who suffer a stroke who receive the drug within three hours of the onset of symptoms may recover quicker and are less likely to suffer severe disability.

Get With The Guidelines-Stroke helps hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, research-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. St. John’s 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 aggressive use of medications and risk-reduction therapies aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of patients who have had a stroke.

 “St. John’s Episcopal Hospital is dedicated to improving the quality of stroke care and the Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke helps us achieve that goal,” said Senior Vice President for Quality Management, Natalie S. Schwartz, M.D., MMI, FACE.

“With this award, our hospital demonstrates our commitment to ensure that our patients receive care based on internationally-respected clinical guidelines,” Dr. Schwartz added.