Three Saint Joseph Mercy Health System hospitals receive Get With The Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus Quality Award

For Immediate Release


Contact:


Bobby Maldonado

Saint Joseph Mercy Health System


734-670-5370

All three hospitals also receive recognition for

quick intervention protocols that reduce death and disability from stroke

CANTON, Mich. (August 19, 2020) – Three Saint Joseph Mercy Health System hospitals have received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's (AHA/ASA) Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus achievement award. The Gold Plus recognition is the highest award offered by AHA/ASA for stroke care and acknowledges a 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.

St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor, St. Joseph Mercy Oakland and St. Mary Mercy Livonia each earned the Gold Plus award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period. These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments aligned with the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Before discharge, patients also receive education on managing their health, as well as being scheduled for a follow-up visit and other transition of care interventions.

"Each of the hospitals recognized within our health system are dedicated to continuously improving their response to stroke with a goal of delivering the highest quality care possible for patients,” said Rosalie Tocco-Bradley, M.D., Ph.D, MHSA, chief clinical officer for Trinity Health Michigan. “These hospitals have the experience and ability needed to intervene quickly to greatly reduce the likelihood of death and disability from stroke and to give our patients the best chance possible at a full recovery."

Additionally, each of the three hospitals received AHA/ASA's Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus Award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet 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.

St. Joe's Oakland and St. Joe's Ann Arbor have each previously earned the distinction of being a Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Center, a certification program from The Joint Commission that demonstrates the hospitals' experience and expertise with a specialized surgical procedure used to remove a blood clot from the brain of an ischemic stroke patient.

Mercy Health Saint Mary’s, a Trinity Health Michigan sister hospital located in Grand Rapids, also received the Get With The Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus Quality Award and Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus Award.

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the United States suffers a stroke every 40 seconds and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

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About Get With The Guidelines®

Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’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. For more information, visit heart.org.

About Saint Joseph Mercy Health System

Saint Joseph Mercy Health System (SJMHS) is a health care organization serving seven counties in southeast Michigan including Livingston, Washtenaw, Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Jackson, and Lenawee. It includes 548-bed St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor, 497-bed St. Joseph Mercy Oakland in Pontiac, 304-bed St. Mary Mercy Livonia, 66-bed St. Joseph Mercy Livingston in Howell, and 133-bed St. Joseph Mercy Chelsea. Combined, the five hospitals are licensed for 1,548 beds, have five outpatient health centers, six urgent care facilities, more than 25 specialty centers; employ more than 15,300 individuals and have a medical staff of nearly 2,700 physicians. SJMHS has annual operating revenues of about $2 billion and returns about $115 million to its communities annually through charity care and community benefit programs.