Abrazo Community Health Network’s Abrazo Arrowhead Campus and Abrazo Central Campus received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award,
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, someone dies of a stroke every four minutes, and nearly 800,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year, according to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.
“Abrazo Arrowhead Campus and Abrazo Central Campus continue to strive for excellence in the acute treatment of stroke patients. The recognition from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke further reinforces our team’s hard work and our commitment to delivering advanced stroke treatments to patients quickly and safely,” said William Ellert, Abrazo Community Health Network market chief medical officer.
The award recognizes the two Abrazo hospitals’ commitment to providing the most appropriate stroke treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence. Hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month periods and achieve 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality measures to receive the Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.
In addition, Abrazo Central Campus, 2000 W. Bethany Home Rd., in Phoenix, received the Stroke Honor Roll Elite and Abrazo Arrowhead Campus, 18701 N. 67th Ave. in Glendale, received the Stroke Honor Roll for meeting specific 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. If given intravenously in the first three hours after the start of stroke symptoms, tPA has been shown to significantly reduce the effects of stroke and lessen the chance of permanent disability.
Abrazo Central Campus earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period. These quality measures are designed to help hospital teams follow the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients.
Abrazo Arrowhead Campus and Abrazo Central Campus also met specific scientific guidelines as a Primary Stroke Center, featuring a system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department.
Abrazo Central Campus has a state-of-the-art endovascular suite. It includes a Biplane Neuroangiography System which allows surgeons to deliver potentially life-saving care to patients with speed and accuracy by providing enhanced visualizations of the brain and spine, treatment that reduces the risk of additional problems and will also expedite recovery.
