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Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center Receives Stroke and Cardiac Recognition

Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center has once again received recognition from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) for providing quality care for patients experiencing stroke or heart events.

The hospital received five quality achievement awards in 2020.

Stroke Care

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the fifth 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 nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

The organization’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke® Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award recognizes Fort Sanders Regional’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment based on the latest scientific evidence and guidelines. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet stringent quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA.

In receiving the stroke achievement awards, Fort Sanders Regional met specific achievement measures with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Receiving the association’s Target: Stroke Elite Plus Honor Roll award places the hospital in the top ranks of stroke centers in the United States.

Additionally, Fort Sanders Regional received the association’s Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet specific quality measures with more than 90 percent compliance for 12 consecutive months for the “Overall Diabetes Cardiovascular Initiative Composite Score.”

Heart Care

Fort Sanders Regional was also recognized by The American Heart Association for demonstrating a commitment to following evidence-based guidelines for timely heart attack treatments.

The American Heart Association created the Mission: Lifeline® program to support heart attack care following protocols from the most recent evidence-based treatment guidelines. The goal of this initiative is prompt treatment for heart attacks, beginning with calling 911, next with EMS transport and continuing through hospital treatment and discharge.

For excellent cardiac care, Fort Sanders Regional received the Mission: Lifeline® Gold Plus Receiving Quality Achievement Award for timely treatment of heart attack patients through emergency procedures to re-establish blood flow to blocked arteries in heart attack patients when needed. In addition, the hospital received the Mission: Lifeline® NSTEMI Silver Quality Achievement Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures for the treatment of patients who suffer heart attacks.

First and Best Choice

These achievements reinforce Fort Sanders Regional’s standing as a Stroke Center of Excellence and the only facility in the region to hold both a Comprehensive Stroke Center certification from The Joint Commission and two separate stroke accreditations from the Commission on the Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. The designations also support Fort Sanders Regional’s Heart Center’s reputation for comprehensive cardiovascular services and treating patients with some of the most complex cardiac issues in the region.

“These recognitions demonstrate the hard work and dedication of our physicians and staff to provide excellent, quality care to our community along with our 100-year legacy of providing quality stroke and cardiac care,” said Keith Altshuler, president and chief administrative officer of Fort Sanders Regional. “As we continually work toward further refining our processes, we also continue to meet and exceed the rigorous standards required to be our community’s stroke and cardiac experts.”

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2020 Get with the guidelines award

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Mission: Lifeline Gold Plus receiving 2020

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Mission Lifeline- NSEMI 2020

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