White Plains, NY (June 28, 2010) - White Plains Hospital Center (WPHC) recently was awarded the 2009 American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus Performance Achievement. The award recognizes White Plains Hospital Center and 4E, the designated stroke unit, for continued commitment and success in implementing excellent care for stroke patients.

To receive the award, White Plains Hospital Center achieved 85 percent or higher adherence to all “Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Performance” indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month intervals. In addition, WPHC achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with six of the 10 “Get WithThe Guidelines-Stroke Quality Measures”, which are reporting initiatives to measure quality of care. These measures include aggressive use of medications, such as t-PA, anti-thrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs and smoking cessation, all aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients.

One of the most noticeable successes this year is the dysphagia screening tool. With collaboration from the Emergency Department and Speech Language Pathology, the Nursing Division revised the process and increased compliance to 90% for 2009.

“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and the Get With The Guidelines–Stroke Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award demonstrates White Plains Hospital Center’s commitment to being one of the top hospitals in the country for providing aggressive, proven stroke care,” said Susana DeAlmeida, RN, Nurse Manager of the 4E Stroke Unit. “We will continue with our focus on providing care that has been shown in the scientific literature to quickly and efficiently treat stroke patients with evidence-based protocols,” said DeAlmedia.