The Shore Health System Primary Stroke Center recently earned a Silver Award from the American Heart Association (AHA) and American Stroke Association (ASA). The award recognizes hospitals that demonstrate compliance with the seven Get With The Guidelines® stroke achievement measures. The Silver Award acknowledges that Shore Health System has met the guidelines for providing the highest standards of stroke care for 12 consecutive months.
To obtain an achievement award, a hospital must officially be recognized by AHA/ASA as participating in the Get With The Guidelines stroke program, which is designed to ensure that hospitals are using the most recent scientific guidelines for treating stroke and heart disease. The Get With The Guidelines achievement measures evaluate the timeliness with which people experiencing stroke symptoms are transported to the hospital emergency room and the percentage of patients who are given the appropriate treatment. The guidelines also require that stroke centers provide education to increase awareness about how to prevent stroke and how to respond when stroke symptoms occur.
The Shore Health System Primary Stroke Center is located at the Memorial Hospital at Easton. Memorial Hospital achieved Primary Stroke Center designation from the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems in 2007.
Neurologist Terry Detrich, MD, is the medical director of the Primary Stroke Center. Under Dr. Detrich’s direction, a specially trained Brain Attack Team (BAT) is ready to respond 24 hours a day when patients in the hospital and in the emergency department are experiencing stroke symptoms. The BAT is composed of an emergency room nurse and physician, a neurologist, a hospitalist, a neuroscience nurse, a laboratory technician and a radiology technologist.
“As healthcare workers, we always feel good when we are rewarded for taking care of our patients,” says neuroscience specialist Christina Ball, RN, CNRN. In addition to her nursing duties, Ball coordinates the Shore Health System stroke education and outreach initiatives for patients and their families, hospital staff nurses and the community.
“Our success is much bigger than achieving the seven measures set by the American Stroke Association,” Ball adds. “We have achieved our goal of coordinating care throughout the hospital and with our EMS partners in the community. This means that we are saving lives by responding quickly and efficiently to people when they are experiencing stroke symptoms.”
Dr. Detrich says, “Getting this award is a team effort. Meeting the stroke care guidelines takes extra effort on the part of our physicians in the emergency department and the hospitalists and the intensivists. Our dedicated nurses have the skills and experience needed to care for stroke patients. Our success depends on around-the-clock cooperation of our staff in the lab, radiology, pharmacy and physical rehabilitation.”
Dr. Detrich commended Ball for the community education she provides. “The most important thing Christina tells people is to call 911,” Dr. Detrich said. “The paramedics who respond to those 911 calls can assess a person’s symptoms, and, because our local EMS personnel are so well trained and dedicated, people begin receiving the care they need even before they reach the hospital.”
For more information about the Shore Health System Primary Stroke Center, call Christina Ball, 410-822-100 or 410-228-5511, ext. 5068. Information about stroke prevention and treatment is available at www.shorehealth.org/services/stroke.