South County Hospital, part of South County Health, received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to stroke patients by providing the most appropriate treatment in accordance with nationally recognized guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

South County Hospital received the Award for treating patients with 85 percent or higher compliance to core standard levels of care as outlined by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association for two consecutive calendar years. In 2017, the Hospital saw 278 stroke cases.

“South County Hospital is dedicated to improving the quality of care for our stroke patients by implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke initiative,” said Anne Schmidt, vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer of South County Health. “The tools and resources provided help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes.”

South County Hospital is also a designated Primary Stroke Center by the Joint Commission and is the recipient of the Women’s Choice Award for America’s Best Hospital for meeting high standards in stroke care.

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.