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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 7/16/2012

Holly Hosler 410.601.8678

Northwest Hospital Receives National Gold Level Award for Stroke Care

The American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association have awarded Northwest Hospital the Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award for reaching and maintaining high standards of stroke care. This award is presented to hospitals that demonstrate a minimum of 85 percent compliance with key national stroke care guidelines for at least 24 consecutive months.

“To earn this award, our stroke team has tangibly demonstrated its commitment to the rapid treatment of patients by consistently meeting rigorous standards,” says Gurdeep S. Ahluwalia, M.D., neurologist and medical director of Northwest’s stroke program. “A stroke is like a heart attack in the brain, and the faster normal blood flow can be restored, the better the chances are a patient can make a full recovery.”

Northwest Hospital, designated by the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems as a stroke center, has implemented a comprehensive system for fast diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to its emergency room. This includes the round-the-clock ability to provide brain imaging scans and having a neurologist always available to evaluate patients rapidly. When appropriate, the hospital can administer medications to destroy stroke-causing blood clots. Additionally, to help prevent recurrent strokes, the Northwest team focuses on patient education and offers encouragement and support to help patients quit smoking.

According to the American Stroke Association, stroke is one of the leading causes of death and serious, long-term disability in the United States. On average, someone has a stroke every 40 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every four minutes; and 795,000 people have a new or recurrent stroke each year.

About Get With The Guidelines
Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that empowers healthcare teams to save lives and reduce healthcare costs by helping hospitals follow evidence-based guidelines and recommendations. For more information, visit heart.org/quality.

About Northwest Hospital
Northwest Hospital is a part of LifeBridge Health, one of the largest, most comprehensive providers of health services in northwest Baltimore. LifeBridge Health also includes Sinai Hospital, Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital, Courtland Gardens Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, and related subsidiaries and affiliates. For more information, visit www.lifebridgehealth.org. More News...