Salinas Valley Health Earns Get With The Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award

Media Contact: Karina Rusk
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SALINAS, CA, June 18, 2018- Salinas Valley Health has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines^®- Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. This prestigious award recognizes the Healthcare System’s commitment to providing stroke care by ensuring that patients receive treatment that meets nationally recognized, research-based guidelines on the latest scientific evidence.

“This award demonstrates our commitment to a high standard of care to our patients,” says Pete Delgado, President/CEO of Salinas Valley Health. “Every day we strive to provide the highest quality and lifesaving care, and we are proud of this great accomplishment.”

Salinas Valley Health earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of patients who suffer strokes 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, reducing death and disability for patients who have suffered strokes.

Salinas Valley Health additionally received the association’s Target: Stroke Honor Roll award. To qualify for this recognition medical centers must meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the medical center and treatment with the clot-buster plasminogen activator, the only drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke. An ischemic stroke occurs as a result of an obstruction within a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain.

“We are pleased to recognize Salinas Valley Health for their commitment to stroke care,” says Eric E. Smith, MD, national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee. “Research has shown that medical centers adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines quality improvement initiative can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.”

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the number 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.