News Release

Media Contact:
Christina Chavira
Communications Specialist
530.332.5589 - office; 530.588.4411 - cell
christina.chavira@enloe.org

Enloe receives American Stroke Association’s
Silver Performance Achievement Award

CHICO, Calif., July 28, 2008 –The American Stroke Association recently awarded Enloe Medical Center its Get With The Guidelines–Stroke (GWTG–Stroke) Silver Performance Achievement Award at the association’s International Stroke Conference 2008. Enloe joins 518 hospitals being featured in an advertisement in the July 21 “America’s Best Hospitals” issue of US News & World Report. The American Stroke Association is recognizing Enloe for its performance in treating stroke patients using the association’s Get With The GuidelinesSM program.

The GWTG Silver Performance Achievement award recognizes Enloe’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care by ensuring that stroke patients receive treatment according to nationally accepted standards and recommendations.

“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost. The award addresses the important element of time,” said Neurologist Michael O’Brien, MD, PhD, and Director of Enloe’s Stroke Program. Enloe has developed a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department. This includes always being equipped to provide brain imaging scans and using clot-busting medications when appropriate.

To receive the GWTG-Stroke Silver Performance Achievement Award, Enloe Medical Center consistently complied for at least one year with the requirements in the GWTG–Stroke program. These include aggressive use of medications like tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs, and smoking cessation. This twelve-month evaluation period is the second in an ongoing self-evaluation by the hospital to continually reach the 85 percent compliance level needed to sustain this award.

“The American Stroke Association commends Enloe Medical Center for its success in implementing standards of care and protocols,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., national Get With the Guidelines Steering Committee Member and director of acute stroke services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “The full implementation of acute care and secondary prevention recommendations and guidelines is a critical step in saving the lives and improving outcomes of stroke patients.”

GWTG–Stroke uses the “teachable moment,” the time soon after a patient has had a stroke, when they are most likely to listen to and follow their health care professionals’ guidance. Studies demonstrate that patients who are taught how to manage their risk factors while still in the hospital reduce their risk of a second stroke. Through GWTG–Stroke, customized patient education materials are made available at the point of discharge, based on patients’ individual risk profiles. The take-away materials are written in an easy-to-understand format and are available in English and Spanish. In addition, the GWTG Patient Management Tool provides access to up-to-date stroke science at the point of care.

“The time is right for Enloe to be focused on improving the quality of stroke care by implementing GWTG–Stroke. The number of acute ischemic stroke patients eligible for treatment is expected to grow over the next decade due to increasing stroke incidence and a large aging population,” said Dr. O’Brien.

According to the American Stroke Association, each year approximately 780,000 people suffer a stroke — 600,000 are first attacks and 180,000 are recurrent. Of stroke survivors aged 49 and older, 21 percent of men and 24 percent of women die within a year.  For those aged 70 and older, the percentages are even higher. 

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Enloe Medical Center is a local, nonprofit health care organization. For more information, please call 530/332-7300 or visit us online at http://www.enloe.org.   Enloe Medical Center is located at 1531 Esplanade Chico, Calif.  95926.