St. Joseph's Earns American Heart Association Award

BLOOMINGDALE — RIVERVIEW, FL — A Riverview hospital has earned an American Heart Association/American Stroke Association award for its treatment of stroke patients.

St. Joseph's Hospital-South was honored with a "Get with the Guidelines Stroke Award — Silver Plus with Honor Roll Elite and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll."

This award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines determined by the latest scientific evidence. This includes proper use of medication and stroke treatments to discharge education.

“Receiving this award is a testament and dedication to the interdisciplinary teamwork at St. Joseph’s Hospital-South,” Phil Minden, St. Joseph’s Hospital-South president said. “I would like to recognize the hard work that our emergency, cardiovascular, neurology and diabetes services contributed for us to receive this award. The treatment of stroke patients involves physicians and team members in multiple specialties. This designation by the American Heart Association sets a standard in our community that demonstrates our cohesion, collaboration and success in delivering outstanding care for those suffering a stroke.”

The Honor Roll Elite designation received by St. Joseph’s Hospital-South indicates that the hospital met quality measures designed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.

St. Joseph’s Hospital-South earned the Diabetes Type 2 Honor Roll distinction by achieving more than 90 percent compliance for 12 consecutive months for the “Overall Diabetes Cardiovascular Initiative Composite Score.” This means the hospital ensured that patients with Type 2 Diabetes receive the most up-to-date, evidenced-based care when hospitalized with stroke.

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.