Samaritan Hospitals Honored for Quality Stroke Care September 10, 2021 Samaritan hospitals in Benton, Lincoln and Linn counties have earned Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke awards by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. The awards recognize commitment to providing the most appropriate stroke treatment according to nationally recognized guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence. The awards are:Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital – Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll. Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital – Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll. Samaritan Albany General Hospital – Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll. Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center – Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll. To qualify for the awards, hospitals must meet specific goals in comprehensive stroke care and meet quality measures developed to minimize the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or Alteplase, known as tPA. This is the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke. If given 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. “These awards represent a tremendous amount of teamwork, not just among our staff but with local EMS as well to provide coordinated stroke care to save brain tissue,” said Dan Sherman, RN, coordinator with the Samaritan Stroke Program. “Stroke care is very time-sensitive, and the fact that we have been recognized for so many years should be a source of PRIDE for everyone who is involved in stroke care.” Samaritan Albany General Hospital was also named a Primary Stroke Center by accrediting agency DNV in 2019, and Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center has been a Primary Stroke Center since 2012. The Samaritan Stroke Services team of specialists work together from the beginning of a patient’s visit and follow their care throughout the patient’s time in the hospital. The team helps stop the stroke, to reduce the patient’s disabilities from the stroke. For more information about Samaritan Stroke Services, call 541-768-6737, email [email protected] or visit samhealth.org/Stroke. Learn more about the Stroke Guidelines.
