MUMC's StrokeOne Earns American Stroke Association Award

Online, March 2, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Memorial University Medical Center (MUMC) in Savannah, Georgia has received the American Stroke Association's Get With The GuidelinesSM Stroke (GWTG-Stroke) Silver Performance Achievement Award for the third year in a row. The award recognizes MUMC'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.
The StrokeOne program at MUMC is a rapid-response team that includes neurologists, emergency-trained physicians, and specially trained nurses. Members of StrokeOne team are on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A Code Stroke is paged as soon as paramedics notify the hospital that a stroke patient is coming to the emergency room, triggering the implementation of the Stroke One protocol.
"With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and this award addresses the important element of time. We are always equipped to provide the necessary brain scans, patient evaluations, and clot-busting medications to stop a stroke as quickly as possible," said Jay U. Howington, M.D., neurosurgeon and neuro interventionalist and medical director of StrokeOne.
"If a patient is diagnosed with a stroke, the Stroke Team at Memorial follows him through the recovery and rehabilitation process and provides education on risk reduction and the importance of recognizing the sign and symptoms of a stroke, early intervention is key. Our goal is to help our patients quickly return to a productive and fulfilling life," said Joel Greenberg, M.D., co-medical director of StrokeOne at Memorial.
To receive the GWTG-Stroke Silver Performance Achievement Award, MUMC consistently complied with the requirements in the GWTG-Stroke program. These include aggressive use of medications like tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol-reducing drugs, and smoking cessation.
According to the American Heart Association, each year approximately 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke. That means that on average, every 40 seconds somebody in the U.S. suffers a stroke. It's the No. 3 cause of death in our country.
To learn more about StrokeOne, visit strokeone.memorialhealth.com.
Memorial University Medical Center (MUMC) is a two-state healthcare organization serving a 35-county area in southeast Georgia and southern South Carolina. The system includes its flagship hospital, a 530-bed academic medical center; Memorial primary and specialty care physician networks; a major medical education program; business and industry services; and NurseOne, a 24-hour call center. Visit our Web site at www.memorialhealth.com.