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Kaiser Permanente Fresno earns Stroke Silver Plus award for stroke care

Kaiser Permanente Fresno receives the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get with the Guidelines®-Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement award.

The award recognizes KP Fresno’s commitment and success in ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

To receive the Silver Plus Quality Achievement award, hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke achievement indicators for at least 12 consecutive months and during the same period achieve 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality measures.

“We are grateful to the American Heart Association for recognizing the hard work of our physicians and staff who care for our stroke patients,” said Senior Vice President and Area Manager Debbie Hemker, RN. “Together, they are ensuring that our patients receive treatment as soon as possible using the latest research-based guidelines.”

KP Fresno has a team of physicians, nurses, and other medical staff trained to evaluate stroke patients quickly and to provide rapid treatment to reduce the risk of long-term damage to the brain and body.

“A stroke patient loses 1.9 million neurons each minute stroke treatment is delayed. This recognition further demonstrates our commitment to delivering advanced stroke treatments to patients quickly and safely,” said Physician in Chief Smita Rouillard, MD.  “KP Fresno continues to strive for excellence in the acute treatment of stroke patients. This award recognizes our team’s hard work.”

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the fifth leading cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds, someone dies of a stroke every four minutes, and nearly 800,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.