EIRMC receives Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association presented Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center with the Get With The Guidelines^®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award for the second year in a row.

The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines.

This includes evaluation of proper use of medications and treatments aligned with current guidelines to speed recovery and reduce death and disability for stroke patients. Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.

Stroke is the number five cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the U.S. 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. Early stroke detection and treatment are key to improving survival, minimizing disability and speeding recovery times.

“In stroke care, there’s a saying that ‘time equals brain.’ It means that the faster a person experiencing stroke symptoms can receive lifesaving stroke interventions, the greater their chances for survival,” EIRMC Stroke Manager Cheri Arnold said. “That’s why EIRMC is ‘at the ready’ to provide stroke care to EIRMC patients, as well as to those patients transferred from facilities in our community and region.”   

EIRMC also received the award last year.