St. Joseph Health Earns Four Additional Get With The Guidelines Awards from the American Heart and American Stroke Association

Bryan, TX, July 28, 2020 — St. Joseph Health Regional Hospital recently received four accolades from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. Regional Hospital was awarded the Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus with Honor Roll Elite Achievement Award, the Get With The Guidelines®-Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, the Mission: Lifeline NSTEMI Gold Achievement Award and the Mission: Lifeline STEMI Receiving Center – Gold Plus Award. This marks the sixth consecutive year St. Joseph Health has been recognized by the AHA/ASA for excellence in Cardiovascular and Stroke Care.

“These awards are significant because they showcase our continuing commitment to improving quality of care for our heart attack, heart failure and stroke patients,” said St. Joseph Health President & CEO Theron Park. “Our St. Joseph Health team works to meet and exceed quality measures, ensuring that our patients receive the best care available.”

Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Honor Roll Elite Plus
St. Joseph Health earned this recognition by meeting specific quality achievement measures for diagnosing and treating 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. 

St. Joseph Health qualified for  the Honor Roll Elite Plus award by meeting 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, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.

Get With The Guidelines®-Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award
St. Joseph Health earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure patients at a set level for a designated period. These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and aggressive risk-reduction therapies. Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their heart failure and overall health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.

Mission: Lifeline NSTEMI Gold Achievement Award
The health system received NSTEMI recognition for meeting 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.

Mission: Lifeline STEMI Receiving Center – Gold Plus Award
St. Joseph Health received the STEMI recognition for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association for the treatment of patients who suffer severe heart attacks. This means the organization meets specific standards of performance for quick and appropriate treatment through emergency procedures to re-establish blood flow to blocked arteries in heart attack patients coming into the hospital directly or by transfer from another facility.

St. Joseph Health received Gold status in all four awards as recognition for 24 or more months consecutively meeting 85 percent compliance.

Get With The Guidelines is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with tools and resources to increase adherence to the latest research-based guidelines. This program is used widely by more than 1,500 hospitals across the country.

About Get With The 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 5 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org.

About St. Joseph Health:

Central to our Mission, St. Joseph Health is committed to providing the Brazos Valley and surrounding counties with the most advanced cardiovascular and stroke treatment options, the highest quality of diagnostic testing and the most personalized care to promote a longer, healthier and happier life.

• St. Joseph Health became the first Accredited Chest Pain Center in the region in 2006.  Now a Joint Commission Certified Chest Pain Center, St. Joseph remains committed to providing exceptional cardiovascular care.
• As the regions only Joint Commission Certified Primary Stroke Center with Intervention Capabilities, St. Joseph is able to offer advanced stroke treatment to qualifying patients.  With the ability to provide mechanical endovascular repair, CHI is the only hospital in the Brazos Valley with the capability to treat new onset ischemic strokes up to 24 hours after onset of symptoms for qualifying patients. 
• In 2018, St. Joseph was honored to become the regions first and only Joint Commission Certified Heart Failure Center in the Brazos Valley.  In conjunction with St. Joseph’s Heart Failure Clinic, patients are offered the latest in evidence-based care, including tools and resources for disease management and personalized care plans to successfully transition patients from the hospital to home.

 [For more information, please contact Communications Manager Tracy Bates at 713-962-9347 or [email protected].]

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