Monday, October 12, 2009
Winston-Salem, N.C. – Forsyth Medical Center’s (FMC) stroke program is the first in North Carolina and the Mid-Atlantic Affiliate (Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Washington, D.C.) to receive national recognition from the American Heart Association/ American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) for its diagnosis and treatment of stroke. The award called “The Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award” recognizes FMC for its sustained high performance in treating stroke patients during the past 12 months.
In 2004, FMC was the first medical center in North Carolina to have a nationally certified stroke program. The 2009 Gold Plus award recognizes FMC for achieving 75 percent or higher compliance to standards of stroke care established by AHA/ASA for the previous 12 months.
“Acute stroke patients typically have better outcomes if they are treated at medical centers that can rapidly triage and treat patients and then provide consistent quality care through their hospitalization, based on national guidelines,” said Cheré Chase, MD, medical director of stroke and neurosciences at Forsyth Medical Center. “This quality performance award recognizes that Forsyth Medical Center consistently treats stroke patients according to proven guidelines, quickly and effectively.”
Forsyth Medical Centerfirst received a Gold Award from the AHA/ASA for sustained stroke patient care performance achievement – at least 24 consecutive months – in 2008. It received a second Gold Award in 2009. This will be the third Gold Award that FMC has received from the AHA/ASA for stroke care.
There are more than 5,000 hospitals in the United States. FMC is one of only 19 medical centers in the country and the first in North Carolinato currently have earned the Gold Plus recognition from the AHA/ASA.
“Gold Plus awards from the American Heart Association are difficult to achieve,” said Robin Voss, vice president of stroke and neurosciences at FMC. “This puts us among an elite national group of primary stroke centers that consistently maintain high standards for rapidly and accurately diagnosing and treating patients with acute stroke.”
Central to FMC’s stroke program are around-the-clock access to a dedicated stroke team, brain-imaging scans and, when appropriate, clot-dissolving medications. FMC’s stroke team includes neurologists, neurosurgeons, vascular surgeons, neuroradiologists, physiatrists and rehabilitation medicine specialists.
An estimated 780,000 new or recurrent strokes occur each year in the United States, according to the AHA/ASA. Stroke is the third cause of death in America, behind heart disease and cancer. It’s also a leading cause of serious long-term disability. Forsyth County is also the fourth worst county in North Carolina for stroke-related deaths.
For more information, call the Forsyth Stroke & Neurosciences Center at 336-718-7337.
