American Heart Association Awards recognize ChristianaCare’s commitment to quality stroke care

(Wilmington, Del., Nov. 10, 2021)

ChristianaCare hospitals have earned seven American Heart Association Get With the Guidelines Achievement awards for quality stroke care, Including the association’s most advanced recognition — the Gold Plus award. The awards recognize ChristianaCare’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines.

ChristianaCare’s three hospitals (Christiana Hospital and Wilmington Hospital in New Castle County, Delaware, and Union Hospital in Cecil County, Maryland) earned the Gold Plus award by meeting a compliance standard in numerous achievement measures for at least 24 consecutive months. These measures include aggressive use of medications such as antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prevention, cholesterol-reducing drugs and smoking cessation, all aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients.

“Our stroke program at ChristianaCare is dedicated to improving the quality of care and quality of life for our stroke patients,” said Kim Gannon, M.D., Ph.D., medical director of Christiana Hospital’s Comprehensive Stroke Program. “The Get With The Guidelines-Stroke initiative helps us to achieve those goals. This recognition from the AHA testifies to our unwavering commitment to serve our community with consistent high-quality stroke care. I am incredibly proud of our entire team – the Acute Neurosciences team, Emergency Department, Radiology, Nursing, EMS, Pharmacy and so many more – that led to this outstanding accomplishment, but more importantly for the exceptional care they provide to our patients day in and day out, even during the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and these Get With The Guidelines Quality Achievement Awards demonstrate that our staff is committed to providing prompt, high-quality care that includes rapid assessment and multidisciplinary inpatient care based on the most up-to-date evidence-based protocols,” said Getinet Kassa, M.D., medical director of ChristianaCare Union Hospital Stroke Program. “Every member of our team of nurses, therapists, physicians and other staff at Union Hospital plays a vital role in making the program so well-coordinated and successful.”

Christiana Hospital also earned three other awards: Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus, Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll and Target: Stroke Advanced Therapy.

Union Hospital earned Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll.

ChristianaCare is a regional leader in stroke care. Christiana Hospital is certified as a Comprehensive Stroke Center by the national certifying organization The Joint Commission, which means it is staffed and equipped to deliver the highest level of stroke care and handle the most complex stroke cases. Wilmington Hospital has been certified as a Primary Stroke Center by the Joint Commission and Union Hospital has been designated as a Primary Stroke Center, a certification given by the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems. Middletown Emergency Department is designated as an Acute Stroke Ready Hospital.

ChristianaCare’s program provides 24-7 availability of expertise in stroke care including vascular neurologists, neurosurgeons, and neurointerventional surgeons. ChristianaCare offers a full range of emergency treatment options including medications and advanced surgical techniques to restore blood flow to the brain and prevent further brain injury.

Stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the U.S. 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. Early stroke detection and treatment are key to improving survival, minimizing disability and speeding recovery times.

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 9 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org/quality.

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About ChristianaCare

Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, ChristianaCare is one of the country’s most dynamic health care organizations, centered on improving health outcomes, making high-quality care more accessible and lowering health care costs. ChristianaCare includes an extensive network of primary care and outpatient services, home health care, urgent care centers, three hospitals (1,430 beds), a freestanding emergency department, a Level I trauma center and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, a comprehensive stroke center and regional centers of excellence in heart and vascular care, cancer care and women’s health. It also includes the pioneering Gene Editing Institute.

ChristianaCare is nationally recognized as a great place to work, rated by Forbes as the 2nd best health system for diversity and inclusion, and the 29th best health system to work for in the United States, and by IDG Computerworld as one of the nation’s Best Places to Work in IT. ChristianaCare is rated by Healthgrades as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals and continually ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek and other national quality ratings. ChristianaCare is a nonprofit teaching health system with more than 260 residents and fellows. With its groundbreaking Center for Virtual Health and a focus on population health and value-based care, ChristianaCare is shaping the future of health care.

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