URMC Honored for Stroke, Cardiac Programs
The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) has once again recognized the University of Rochester Medical Center’s (URMC) Strong Memorial Hospital as having met its highest standards of care for stroke, heart failure, and resuscitation.
This is the fourth consecutive year that Strong Memorial Hospital has received the AHA/ASA Get With The Guidelines program’s highest honor, the Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The hospital was also tapped for the Target: Stroke Honor Role, which recognizes hospitals that have consistently and successfully reduced door-to-needle time – the window of time between a stroke victim’s arrival at the hospital, the diagnosis of an acute ischemic stroke, and the administration of the clot-busting drug tPA.
“This recognition is a testament to the hard work of our outstanding team of nurses, physicians, and therapists and their dedication to provide the highest quality of care to stroke victims,” said URMC neurologist Curtis Benesch, M.D., Ph.D., the director of the Strong Stroke and Cerebrovascular Center.
This is also the fifth consecutive year that Strong Memorial Hospital’s cardiovascular programs have received AHA/ASA Heart Failure Gold Achievement Award. This award, along with the AHA/ASA’s Resuscitation Silver Achievement Award honor, recognizes the hospital for its treatment and rehabilitation of heart attack patients.
“These awards demonstrate not only the high level of care provided to our patients, but also the commitment of our team to continue to reduce the risk of recurrent heart attacks and death,” said Charles Lowenstein, M.D., chief of Cardiology at URMC and director of the Aab Cardiovascular Research Institute.
The Program in Heart Failure and Transplantation is the largest team in upstate New York dedicated to providing a variety of life-saving devices, such as heart pumps, ventricular assist devices, or total artificial hearts, and heart transplant.
The AHA/ASA Get With the Guidelines program recognizes hospitals that have reached aggressive goals of treating heart failure and stroke patients and comply with core standard levels of care. The list of honorees will be publishing in July in the “America’s Best Hospitals” edition of U.S. News and World Report. For more information about the Get With The Guidelines program, visit the AHA/ASA website.