Hospital Lauded for Stroke Patient Care

Stony Brook University Medical Center has for the second year in a row received an award celebrating its commitment to and successful implementation of care tailored to stroke patients.

The "Get With The Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award" comes jointly from the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association.

Dr. Lee H. Schwamm, chairman of the Get With The Guidelines National Steering Committee, lauded SBUMC for its standards of care and protocols when treating stroke patients.

“The full implementation of acute care and secondary prevention recommendations and guidelines is a critical step in saving the lives and improving outcomes of stroke patients," Schwamm said in a statement.

Cited for the award were the hospital's use of specific therapies and medications aimed at reducing death or disability for stroke patients, including smoking cessation, anticoagulation therapy, cholesterol-reducing drugs, antithrombotics and more.

American Heart Association and American Stroke Association data says that stroke is "the third-leading cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of serious, long-term disability," with 795,000 people suffering a new or recurrent stroke each year.