Saint Alphonsus Health System awarded national recognition for excellence in stroke care

The American Heart Association presents the Get With The Guidelines® awards for proven dedication to best practices and life-saving care in Boise and Nampa 

Saint Alphonsus Health System has been awarded two prestigious American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke awards, demonstrating its commitment to following up-to-date, research-based guidelines for the treatment of stroke, ultimately leading to more lives saved, faster recovery times and fewer readmissions to the hospital.  

Get With The Guidelines is a system of evidence-based quality improvement programs developed by the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association for hospitals nationwide, helping ensure patient care is aligned with the latest evidence and research-based guidelines. As a participant in the Get With The Guidelines programs, Saint Alphonsus qualified for the awards by exemplifying the organization’s dedication to improving quality care.

The participation in this program, which is a national repository for benchmarking best practice and quality measures, is a conscious effort by Saint Alphonsus to ensure the health system is providing stroke care at the highest possible quality.  

“Our commitment to reviewing and benchmarking this data keeps us accountable to best practices and ensures we continually review, analyze and enhance our clinical care for the acute stroke patient, providing high quality complex care for our patients and community,” said Claire Jones, Saint Alphonsus Health System Regional Director of the Neuroscience Service Line.

This year, Saint Alphonsus Medical Center - Nampa was awarded the Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke Bronze, and Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise was awarded the Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke Silver Plus with Target: Stroke Honor Roll with Advanced Therapy. Saint Alphonsus is the only health system being recognized with this distinction in the Treasure Valley.

Recipients of the Bronze distinction have implemented measures for the prevention of stroke, during one calendar quarter and greater than 30 patient cases, while the Silver Plus with Target: Stroke Honor Roll with Advanced Therapy distinction represents one calendar year of achievements, in addition to a series of other measures of excellence including meeting specific criteria that reduce the time between an eligible patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment to remove the clot causing the stroke.  

“We are incredibly pleased to recognize Saint Alphonsus Health System for its commitment to caring for patients with stroke,” said Steven Messe, M.D., volunteer chair of the American Heart Association Stroke System of Care Advisory Group. “Participation in Get With The Guidelines is associated with improved patient outcomes, fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates — a win for health care systems, families and communities.”

Stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of disability in the U.S. A stroke occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts. When that happens, part of the brain cannot get the blood and oxygen it needs, causing brain cells to die. Early stroke detection and treatment are key to improving survival, minimizing disability and accelerating recovery times.

Learn more about Saint Alphonsus Neurosciences by visiting Advanced Neuroscience Services for Better Health.