American Heart Association honors Saint Francis Hospital for stroke care

WILMINGTON, Del.—Saint Francis Hospital is being recognized with the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines–Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award for the second time. The award honors hospitals that implement a higher standard of stroke care by ensuring patients receive treatment according to nationally accepted standards and recommendations.

The award is good news for Wilmington because it lets people know that Saint Francis, a local community hospital, can consistently provide a rapid response and proper care to patients experiencing stroke symptoms.

“What’s so exciting is that the award recognizes our ongoing commitment to exceptional patient care,” says Dan Sinnott, President and CEO of Saint Francis Hospital. “Saint Francis Hospital meets the nation’s best-practice standards. Stroke victims and their families in our community can feel confident that they’ll get the quality care they need right here.”

Specifically, Saint Francis is being honored for providing rapid, top-quality stroke care, including a door-to-needle time of 60 minutes in at least half of all stroke patients when administering the tPA drug. Saint Francis has complied with at least 85 percent of all the Get With The Guidelines–Stroke achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month periods and achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with five of the program’s eight quality measures.

“Minutes matter,” explains Sinnott. “Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States has a stroke. That adds up to nearly 800,000 people having a stroke every year. If you experience a stroke, you need prompt, effective treatment to minimize the damage to your brain and body. Our team takes that need seriously.”