MetroWest Medical Center Receives Achievement Award from American Heart Association for Stroke Care

Framingham, MA – July 17, 2006 – You are suddenly confused.  People are talking, but you are having trouble understanding what they mean.  It’s scary to imagine, even scarier if you realize that you could be having a stroke.  According to the American Heart Association (AHA), every 45 seconds someone in America has a stroke, and every 3 minutes someone dies of one. 

Because stroke is a life threatening illness with a sudden onset and the need for immediate intervention, the AHA has been working with hospitals and EMS across the country to increase awareness in the general population and develop and implement a program that helps hospitals insure that patients consistently receive stroke care in accordance with the most up-to-date guidelines and recommendations.

This program, called “Get With The Guidelines,” (GWTG) employs three modules to help hospitals use evidenced-based guidelines to treat patients with coronary artery disease, stroke and/or heart failure.  Hospitals that continually meet or exceed the nationally accepted standards have been awarded a performance achievement award by the AHA.  MetroWest Medical Center’s Emergency Department on the Framingham Campus has been awarded an “Initial Performance Achievement Award” because 85% of their stroke patients (without contraindications) are treated and discharged according to the AHA guidelines and recommendations.  It is one of only four hospitals in Massachusetts to receive this award.

The American Heart Associations/American Stroke Association has recognized MetroWest Medical Center’s contribution to quality care in US News and World Report’s July issue on the top 100 hospitals. “MetroWest Medical Center has implemented and maintained the appropriate standards of protocol in cardiac and stroke care for patients,” said Gregg C. Fonarow, MD, American Heart Association volunteer chairman for the GWTG Steering Committee.  “We are proud of MetroWest Medical Center’s efforts for implementing these lifesaving treatments.

“The long term outcomes of stroke can be greatly affected by proper recognition of stroke when it happens by the patient, family and EMS personnel, and the prompt appropriate treatment by the emergency room.  I am pleased that MetroWest Medical Center has been recognized in this way, as it brings together two things we are passionate about here at MetroWest: community education and the very best in emergency care,” said Joseph D’Alton, MD, chief of neurology at MWMC. 

Stroke is a medical emergency. Know these warning signs of stroke and teach them to others. Every second counts:

• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
• Sudden, severe headache with no known cause