Four WMCHealth Hospitals Again Earn Awards for Stroke Care Excellence

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stroke is a leading cause of death in the United States, with about 795,000 people in the U.S. suffering a stroke each year. WMCHealth encourages the public to learn more about stroke symptoms and to call 911 immediately if someone shows signs of a possible stroke. Emergency medical services can be directed to take a stroke patient to the closest WMCHealth hospital for expert care if transport is considered safe for the individual.

Recently, Westchester Medical Center, Good Samaritan Hospital, MidHudson Regional Hospital and HealthAlliance Hospital each earned the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get with the Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award for 2021.

The award recognizes each hospital for its commitment to, and success in, ensuring stroke patients receive excellent care based on the latest evidence-based scientific guidelines. The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association also appointed each of these hospitals to the Get with the Guidelines Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll.

Additionally, Westchester Medical Center and Good Samaritan Hospital attained Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Status from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. To qualify for this recognition, each hospital had to meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between patient arrival at the hospital and treatment with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), a therapy for treating ischemic strokes, which are caused by blood clots.