Hendrick Medical Center earns gold for heart and stroke care

Hendrick Medical Center recently received the Mission: Lifeline® NSTEMI Gold Quality Achievement Award and Get With The Guidelines^®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award for exhibiting safe, quality care for heart and stroke patients.

Heart Care

The American Heart Association (AHA) recognized Hendrick with the Mission: Lifeline® NSTEMI Gold Quality Achievement Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the AHA for the treatment of patients who suffer heart attacks.

"Hendrick is proud to earn the NSTEMI Mission Lifeline Gold Award as recognition of our untiring efforts to provide quality and compassionate care to the community,” said Dr. Harvinder Arora, cardiologist and medical director for the AMI program at Hendrick Medical Center. “As heart disease remains a top reason for continued death and misery, we are blessed with a great cardiology team dedicated to caring for the community in the fight against heart disease. This award provides continued motivation for us to be better at what we do."

Mission: Lifeline program’s goal is to reduce system barriers to prompt treatment for heart attacks, beginning with the 9-1-1 call, to EMS transport and continuing through hospital treatment and discharge. The initiative provides tools, training and other resources to support heart attack care following protocols from the most recent evidence-based treatment guidelines.

Hendrick met specific criteria and standards of performance for the quick and appropriate treatment of NSTEMI heart attack patients by providing emergency procedures to re-establish blood flow to blocked arteries when needed.

“We commend Hendrick Medical Center for this award in recognition for following evidence-based guidelines for timely heart attack treatment,” said Dr. Tim Henry, chair of the Mission: Lifeline Acute Coronary Syndrome Subcommittee. “We applaud the significant institutional commitment to their critical role in the system of care for quickly and appropriately treating heart attack patients.”

Stroke Care

Hendrick Medical Center also received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines^®-Stroke Gold Plus with Honor Roll Elite Quality Achievement Award, as well as the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke, Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll Achievement Award.

These awards recognize the hospital’s commitment to ensure stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

“I’m grateful for all the hard work given by the entire Hendrick team,” said Dr. Stephen Lyon, emergency medicine physician and medical director for the stroke program at Hendrick Medical Center. “The treatment of strokes starts with EMS and ends with rehabilitation after discharge - and every step is important. We strive for perfection with every step, and only as a team are we successful.”

Hendrick earned the awards 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, as well as education on managing the patient’s health, scheduling a follow-up visit and other care transition interventions, prior to discharge.

“We are pleased to recognize Hendrick for their commitment to stroke care,” said Dr. Lee H. Schwamm, national chairperson of the Quality Oversight Committee, executive vice chair of neurology and director of Acute Stroke Services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines quality improvement initiative can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.”

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds and approximately 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.