Holyoke Medical Center Honored for Excellence in Stroke Care

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Medical Center (HMC) received four prestigious national and state awards for excellence in and quality of stroke care in Massachusetts, including the American Stroke Assoc. Get with the Guidelines – Stroke Gold Plus award for the eighth consecutive year.

Recognition for HMC’s stroke program included:

• American Heart Assoc./American Stroke Assoc. Get with the Guidelines – Stroke Gold Plus Achievement Award with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus, recognizing the hospital’s commitment to providing the most appropriate stroke treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence. To qualify, hospitals must meet 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. If given intravenously in the first three hours after the start of stroke symptoms, tPA has been shown to significantly reduce the effects of stroke and lessen the chance of permanent disability. HMC earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period;

• Defect-free Care Award from the Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Program at the state Department of Public Health (DPH), which recognizes HMC for providing defect-free care for 90{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} or more of its stroke patients, utilizing all of the interventions for which each patient was eligible between January 2016 and December 2016. Defect-free care is achieved when a patient receives the appropriate care based on clinical guidelines;

• Modified Rankin Scale Greater Than or Equal to 85{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} Award from the Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Program at the Massachusetts DPH, which recognizes HMC as a hospital which completed the Modified Rankin Scale on at least 85{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} of stroke patients from January 2016 to December 2016; and

• Dysphagia Screening Greater Than or Equal to 90{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} Award from the Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Program at the state DPH, recognizing HMC for completing dysphagia screening on at least 90{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} of stroke patients from January 2016 to December 2016.

“Holyoke Medical Center has sustained excellence in stroke care since 2007. These quality-achievement awards demonstrate the consistency and dedication amongst our staff for the past decade,” said Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems.

Added Angela Smith, HMC’s stroke clinical manager, “we are proud to be recognized by these prestigious awards as a validation for the exceptional care we provide to all of our patients.”