Local Hospitals Cited for Stroke Care Excellence

Four Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) hospitals have again been cited by national associations* for stroke care excellence.

Westchester Medical Center, Good Samaritan Hospital, MidHudson Regional Hospital and HealthAlliance Hospital have each earned the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get with the Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award for 2021. The award recognizes each hospital for its commitment to, and success in, ensuring stroke patients receive excellent care based on the latest evidence-based scientific guidelines. The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association also appointed each of these hospitals to the Get with the Guidelines Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll.

Additionally, Westchester Medical Center and Good Samaritan Hospital attained Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Status from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. To qualify for this recognition, each hospital met quality measures developed to reduce the time between patient arrival at the hospital and treatment with tissue plasminogen activator, or r-tPA, a therapy for for treating ischemic strokes, which are caused by blood clots.

Learn Stroke Signs, Get the Needed Stroke Care

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stroke is a leading cause of death in the United States with about 795,000 people in the United States suffering a stroke each year. WMCHealth encourages the public to learn more about stroke symptoms and to call 911 immediately if someone shows signs of a possible stroke. Emergency medical services can be directed to take a stroke patient to the closest awarded WMCHealth hospital for expert care, if transport is considered safe for the individual.

WMCHealth Hospitals Collaborate to Provide Timely and Effective Stroke Care
Westchester Medical Center is certified by New York State as a Comprehensive Stroke Center, a designation that represents the most advanced stroke treatment available in a given geographic area*. As well, Good Samaritan Hospital, MidHudson Regional Hospital and HealthAlliance Hospital are all designated by the New York State Department of Health as Primary Stroke Centers.

“Our WMCHealth stroke care teams work in concert for the administration of timely stroke care,” said Ji Chong, MD, a vascular neurologist and Director of Stroke at Westchester Medical Center. Under Dr. Chong’s guidance, the stroke program at Westchester Medical Center now has a stroke specialist caring for each patient 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

“We offer neuroendovascular and other neurointerventional services all day, every day along with around-the-clock neurocritical care, neurosurgery and vascular neurology. In addition, we have expanded our telemedicine services so now colleagues in hospitals both within and outside of the WMCHealth Network can contact us at any time for stroke care consultation,” added Dr. Chong. “A telemedicine consult can save critical minutes during diagnosis and treatment application. This time saving might mean the difference between a full recovery, a lifetime of disability or worse for the patient.”

Additionally, WMCHealth is a community resource for stroke education and prevention. WMCHealth has a long-term Academic Affiliation Agreement with New York Medical College, hosts professional, stroke-centric learning events for clinical specialists and is also active in the community with stroke education.

About Westchester Medical Center Health Network
The Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) is a 1,700-bed healthcare system headquartered in Valhalla, New York, with 10 hospitals on eight campuses spanning 6,200 square miles of the Hudson Valley. WMCHealth employs more than 12,000 people and has nearly 3,000 attending physicians. The Network has Level 1, Level 2 and Pediatric Trauma Centers, the region’s only acute care children’s hospital, an academic medical center, several community hospitals, dozens of specialized institutes and centers, skilled nursing, assisted living facilities, homecare services and one of the largest mental health systems in New York State, today WMCHealth is the pre-eminent provider of integrated healthcare in the Hudson Valley. For more information about WMCHealth, visit WMCHealth.org or follow WMCHealth at Facebook.com/WMCHealth or Instagram.com/WMCHealth.