Contact:
Amy Massimo
Director, Public Affairs
(845) 348-2773
Nyack, NY – February 3, 2010 – Nyack Hospital has received the American Stroke Association’s Get With The GuidelinesSM Stroke (GWTG–Stroke) Silver Performance Achievement Award, which recognizes the Hospital’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care by ensuring that stroke patients receive treatment according to nationally accepted standards and recommendations.
“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and the GWTG–Stroke Silver Performance Achievement Award addresses the important element of time,” stated Neurologist John Ferro, MD, Director of the Stroke Committee at Nyack Hospital. “As a New York State Department of Health certified Stroke Center, Nyack Hospital has a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department in place. This includes always being equipped to provide brain imaging scans, having neurologists available to conduct patient evaluations and using clot-busting medications when appropriate.”
To receive the Get With the Guidelines-Stroke Silver Performance Achievement Award, Nyack Hospital consistently complied for at least one year with the requirements in the Get With The Guidelines–Stroke program. These include aggressive use of medications like tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs, and smoking cessation. This twelve-month evaluation period is the second in an ongoing self-evaluation by the hospital to continually reach the 85 percent compliance level needed to sustain this award.
According to the American Stroke Association, each year approximately 795,000 people suffer a stroke — 610,000 are first attacks and 185,000 are recurrent. Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States is suffering from a stroke. This deadly condition accounts for 1 out of every 18 deaths in the United States.
Nyack Hospital’s Emergency Department is staffed by Emergency Medical Associates (www.ema-ed.com), one of the country's premier emergency physician groups. For over 32 years, EMA has been well-recognized as a leader in the field of Emergency Medicine innovation, operations, patient satisfaction, health information technology and research.
Nyack Hospital
Nyack Hospital is a 375-bed community acute care medical and surgical hospital located in Rockland County, NY. Founded in 1895, it is a member of the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System. For additional information, please visit our web site at www.nyackhospital.org.
