Phoebe earns national recognition for efforts to improve cardiovascular treatment

ALBANY – Phoebe has received the American Heart Association’s Gold Plus Get With The Guidelines — Stroke Quality Achievement Award for its commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the highest quality and most appropriate treatment. This is the sixth year Phoebe has received this designation.

“We are honored to be recognized by the American Heart Association once again,” Dr. Marla Morgan with Phoebe Neurology said. “Our team puts proven knowledge and guidelines to work daily to improve outcomes for stroke patients.”

Phoebe 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 evaluation of the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments aligned with the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions

Additionally, Phoebe received the Association’s Target: StrokeSM Honor Roll Elite award and the Target: Stroke Type 2 Honor Roll award.

Stroke is the fifth-leading 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.

“When it comes to stroke care, every second counts,” Morgan said. “Not only is our immediate stroke team committed to stroke care but employees throughout the hospital are continually educated on the most current stroke awareness 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 9 million patients since 2001.