Good Samaritan Hospital Honored with American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Stroke Quality Achievement Award

Good Samaritan Hospital’s stroke care is being nationally recognized by the American Heart Association (AHA) and American Stroke Association (ASA). The hospital is receiving the AHA/ASA’s Get With The Guidelines^®--Stroke Gold Plus Achievement Award with Target: Stroke^SM Honor Roll Elite Plus, which honors a commitment to providing the most appropriate stroke treatment to its patients.

The Get With The Guidelines program, which was developed in 2001 to help save lives and hasten recovery, helps hospitals ensure that the care provided to patients is aligned with the latest research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence. To receive the Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, 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 also achieve 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight Get With The Guidelines--Stroke Quality measures.

The Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus is awarded to hospitals that meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and their treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator tPA, which significantly reduces the effects of stroke and the chance of permanent disability if given intravenously in the first three hours after the start of stroke symptoms.

“Speed is critical when treating a stroke patient. Our multidisciplinary stroke team is not only ready 24/7, but as soon as a stroke alert is called, we are in the Emergency Department immediately,” said Good Samaritan Hospital neurologist Dr. Harmeet Sachdev. “The Silicon Valley community knows that Good Samaritan Hospital provides the most innovative, quality stroke care available.”

The AHA/ASA report that stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. Each year, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke about every 40 seconds, someone dies of a stroke every four minutes, and nearly 800,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke.

“Stroke care at Good Samaritan Hospital is widely recognized for its top quality, and for our ongoing commitment to provide the latest advancements in stroke treatment,” said Joe DeSchryver, CEO of Good Samaritan Hospital. “The long-term health of our Silicon Valley community is of the utmost importance to us, and when a stroke happens, we make sure that patients are quickly put in the very best hands.”

For more information on Good Samaritan Hospital’s Comprehensive Stroke Center, please visit: http://goodsamsanjose.com/service/comprehensive-stroke-center.

About Good Samaritan Hospital

Good Samaritan Hospital, a 474-bed acute care hospital in the heart of Silicon Valley, has been delivering elite level care with compassion since 1965. Its two locations include the main campus in San Jose, California and the Mission Oaks campus in Los Gatos, California. Good Samaritan Hospital is recognized nationally for quality and safety by The Joint Commission as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures^® and with the Gold Seal of Approval^® for Sepsis Certification, and for Hip and Knee Joint Replacement Certification. Good Samaritan Hospital is a Joint Commission-certified Comprehensive Stroke Center, STEMI Receiving Center, accredited Chest Pain Center, certified Afib Center and a five-time recipient of the American College of Surgeons Outstanding Achievement Award in cancer care. For more information visit, www.goodsamsanjose.com.