Page 12 - Christiana Care Focus August 2018

Heart & Vascular Health |
Christiana Care recognized for outstanding stroke, heart attack
and heart failure care
Christiana Care earned several new best-in-class awards from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association related to care for stroke, heart attack and heart failure, based on performance throughout
2017. Three of the awards are in Gold categories, indicating that Christiana Care has met the requirements for the award for 24 or more consecutive months.
The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award recognizes Christiana Hospital for its commitment
to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nation- ally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.
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10 CHRISTIANA CARE HEALTH SYSTEM
Christiana Hospital additionally received the association’s Target: Stroke Elite Plus award after meeting AHA/ASA quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA — the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.
Christiana Hospital is a Comprehensive Stroke Center, the most advanced level
of expertise in stroke care as certified
by The Joint Commission. It is the only facility to achieve this distinction within the region of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Eastern Maryland, Southern New Jersey and Delaware, outside of centers in urban Philadelphia or Baltimore.
“The Get With the Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award is a concrete way of recognizing what we can do to treat patients who suffer a stroke,” said Valerie Dechant, M.D., physician leader, Neuroscience Service Line, and medical director, Neurocritical Care and Acute Neurologic Services. “If a patient
is having a brain attack, the Christiana Care stroke team is emergently activated, 24/7, to provide the most advanced care and expertise offering the best chance for recovery and minimizing stroke-related disabilities.”
Speeding care for heart attacks
Christiana Care received the Mission: Lifeline Gold Receiving Quality Achievement Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association for the treatment of patients who suffer severe heart attacks.
Danielle Weber, MSN, MS, RN-BC, NEA-BC, vice president, Patient Care Services, and Valerie Dechant, M.D., physician leader, Neuroscience Service Line, and medical director, Neurocritical Care and Acute Neurologic Services, celebrate the awards from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.