Monday, July 15, 2024
NEW LONDON, CT (July 15, 2024) — Lawrence + Memorial Hospital has received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines®- Stroke Gold Plus quality achievement award.
The Gold Plus quality achievement award recognizes the hospital for its commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines, ultimately leading to more lives saved and reduced disability.
The hospital was also awarded the American Heart Association’s Target: Type 2 Diabetes™ Honor Roll award. Target: Type 2 Diabetes aims to ensure patients with Type 2 diabetes, who might be at higher risk for complications, receive the most up-to-date, evidence-based care when hospitalized due to stroke.
Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death and a leading cause of disability in the U.S. A stroke occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts. When that happens, part of the brain cannot get the blood and oxygen it needs, so brain cells die. Early stroke detection and treatment are key to improving survival, minimizing disability and accelerating recovery times.
Get With The Guidelines puts the expertise of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to work for hospitals nationwide, helping ensure patient care is aligned with the latest research- and evidence-based guidelines. Get With The Guidelines-Stroke is an in-hospital program for improving stroke care by promoting consistent adherence to these guidelines, which can minimize the long-term effects of a stroke and even prevent death.
“At L+M we pride ourselves on our dedication to improving the quality of care for our stroke patients. This award is a reflection of our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes,” said Chief Medical Officer Oliver Mayorga, MD. “Our goal is to ensure more people in greater New London can experience longer, healthier lives.”
Lawrence + Memorial Hospital is designated a Primary Stroke Center by The Joint Commission. This recognizes the high level of care we provide for stroke patients and their families. Available 24 hours a day, the Stroke Center’s specially trained team includes neurologists, emergency medicine physicians, radiologists, nurses, clinical pharmacists, emergency medical technicians, rehabilitation therapists, speech pathologists and others. The Stroke Center uses a comprehensive approach emphasizing rapid evaluation and treatment of stroke as well as patient education toward improving the outcome and quality of life for stroke patients.
Each year, program participants qualify for the award by demonstrating how their organization has committed to providing quality care for stroke patients. In addition to following treatment guidelines, Get With The Guidelines participants also educate patients to help them manage their health and recovery at home.
“We are incredibly pleased to recognize Lawrence + Memorial Hospital for its commitment to caring for patients with stroke,” said Steven Messe, MD, volunteer chairperson of the American Heart Association Stroke System of Care Advisory Group and professor of neurology and director of fellowships of neurology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. “Participation in Get With The Guidelines is associated with improved patient outcomes, fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates – a win for health care systems, families and communities.”
Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, a member of Yale New Haven Health, is a non-profit, 308-bed general and acute care hospital providing patient care to medical, surgical, pediatric, psychiatric and obstetrical patients in southeastern Connecticut and southern Rhode Island since 1912. Lawrence + Memorial offers cardiac acute, step-down and rehabilitation programs and is the only eastern Connecticut hospital that performs emergency and elective angioplasty. www.lmhospital.org
