Memorial Health earns 2020 Awards from American Heart and Stroke Association

Memorial Health August 03, 2020

For the ninth consecutive year, Memorial Health has earned the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's (AHA) Get With The Guidelines(R) Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. This award recognizes the hospital's commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence. Memorial also earned the 2020 AHA Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll awards.

Get With The Guidelines(R) is the AHA's hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with tools and resources to increase adherence to 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 6 million patients since 2001.

"These awards demonstrate our team's commitment to providing safe, high-quality care for stroke patients," said Dr. Joseph Hogan, emergency room physician. "This quality initiative helps us measure our success in meeting clinical guidelines that improve outcomes for our stroke patients."

In June, Memorial Health achieved Comprehensive Stroke Center certification from DNV GL - Healthcare, reflecting the highest level of competence for treatment of serious stroke events. Memorial Health is the only hospital in Savannah and southeast Georgia to earn this designation.

According to the AHA, stroke is the fifth highest cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the US. Nearly 95,000 people suffer a stroke each year. Unfortunately, during this pandemic, hospitals are seeing patients delay emergency care due to fear of COVID-19. Patients with stroke symptoms should seek emergency care immediately. "When a patient is experiencing a stroke, it's so important that they receive immediate emergency care. The sooner we can restore blood supply to those brain cells, the better their outcome will be," said Hogan.