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 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1599583306541.jpeg" alt="Photo courtesy Salina Regional Health Center" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy Salina Regional Health Center</figcaption>
 </figure>Salina Regional Health Center has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus and Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus quality achievement awards. The awards recognize the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines using the latest scientific evidence.Salina Regional earned the awards by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at set levels for the past year. These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments aligned with the most up-todate, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Before discharge, patients also should receive education on managing their health, get follow-up visits scheduled as well as other care transition interventions.Salina Regional additionally received Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus Award for its efforts to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.“Salina Regional is dedicated to improving the quality of care for our stroke patients by implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke initiative,” said Rachelle Giroux, director of Trauma, Stroke and Chest Pain Accreditation at Salina Regional. “The tools and resources provided help us track and measure our success in meeting evidence-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes.”In 2019 Salina Regional treated 191 stroke patients – 86 percent of whom had suffered an ischemic stroke.“We are pleased to recognize Salina Regional Health Center for their commitment to stroke care,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., national chairperson of the Quality Oversight Committee and Executive Vice Chair of Neurology, Director of Acute Stroke Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. “Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines quality improvement initiatives can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.”According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the No. 5 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 and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

Salina Regional receives awards for stroke patient care