UnityPoint Health – St. Luke’s Hospital received the American Heart and Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Gold Plus with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll Award. The award recognizes St. Luke’s commitment and success in using the Get With The Guidelines – Stroke, Target Stroke and Target: Type 2 Diabetes programs. These programs offer the most up-to-date evidence-based guidelines to improve patient care and outcomes in the community.
Hospitals earn GOLD PLUS by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients for a minimum of two consecutive years. These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments, in addition to using the evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients.
Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite hospitals must meet specific criteria that reduces the time between an eligible patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster alteplase. Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll aims to ensure patients with Type 2 diabetes receive the most up-to-date care when hospitalized with cardiovascular disease or stroke.
Stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of disability in the U.S. A stroke occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts. When that happens, part of the brain cannot get the blood and oxygen it needs, so brain cells die. Early stroke detection and treatment are key to improving survival, minimizing disability and accelerating recovery times.
