GLEN COVE, NY – Glen Cove Hospital has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines ® (GWTG) Stroke Silver Plus Performance Achievement Award.  The award recognizes Glen Cove’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care by ensuring that stroke patients receive treatment based on nationally accepted standards and recommendations. Glen Cove Hospital is also a New York State-designated stroke center.

To receive the GWTG Stroke Silver Plus Performance Achievement Award, Glen Cove Hospital achieved at least 12 consecutive months of 85 percent or higher adherence to all stroke performance achievement indicators. The hospital also achieved at least 75 percent or higher compliance with six of 10 GWTG stroke quality measures during that same period of time, which are reporting initiatives to measure quality of care.

These measures include: aggressive use of medications, such as tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, a clot-busting drug, and other therapies; prevention of deep vein thrombosis, cholesterol reducing drugs and smoking cessation, all aimed at reducing death and disability; and improving the lives of stroke patients.

“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost,” said Lawrence Robinson, MD, chairman of neurology at Glen Cove Hospital.  “The Get With The Guidelines Stroke Silver Plus Performance Achievement Award demonstrates that our staff is committed to providing care that has been shown in the scientific literature to quickly and efficiently treat stroke patients with evidence-based protocols.”  As a designated stroke center, Glen Cove Hospital has a multidisciplinary stroke team available 24 hours a day to assess and treat stroke patients.

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the third-leading cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of serious, long-term disability. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 45 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every three minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

Get With The Guidelines Stroke uses the “teachable moment,” the time soon after a patient has had a stroke, when they are most likely to listen to and follow their healthcare professionals’ guidance. Studies demonstrate that patients who are taught how to manage their risk factors while still in the hospital reduce their risk of a second heart attack or stroke.  The program provides customized patient education materials, both in English and Spanish, which are made available to patients upon discharge, based on patients’ individual risk profiles.

For more information on Get With The Guidelines, visit www.americanheart.org/getwiththeguidelines or for information about stroke prevention and treatment visit http://www.northshorelij.com/NSLIJ/Neurovascular+and+Stroke+Institute

Contact:  Betty Olt
(516) 465-2645
bolt@nshs.edu