Mount Auburn Hospital Is Nationally Recognized for Its Commitment to Providing High-Quality Stroke Care

The American Heart Association Presents Get With The Guidelines – Stroke Gold Plus Award for Proven Dedication to Ensuring All Stroke Patients Have Access to Best Practices and Life-Saving Care

Cambridge, MA – Mount Auburn Hospital has received the American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines – Stroke Gold Plus quality achievement award for its commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines, ultimately leading to more lives saved and reduced disability.

"This recognition from the American Heart Association reflects our commitment to delivering excellent stroke care to our patients," said Ed Huang, MD, president, Mount Auburn Hospital. "Get With The Guidelines offers best practices for our clinicians to follow, which combined with their knowledge and expertise, helps our patients live longer and healthier lives."

Stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of disability in the United States. 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, so brain cells die. Early stroke detection and treatment are key to improving survival, minimizing disability and accelerating recovery times.

Get With The Guidelines puts the expertise of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to work for hospitals nationwide, helping ensure patient care is aligned with the latest research- and evidence-based guidelines. Get With The Guidelines – Stroke is an in-hospital program for improving stroke care by promoting consistent adherence to these guidelines, which can minimize the long-term effects of a stroke and even prevent death.

Each year, program participants qualify for the award by demonstrating how their organization has committed to providing quality care for stroke patients. In addition to following treatment guidelines, Get With The Guidelines participants also educate patients to help them manage their health and recovery at home.

"We are incredibly pleased to recognize Mount Auburn Hospital for its commitment to caring for patients with stroke," said Steven Messe, MD. volunteer chairperson of the American Heart Association Stroke System of Care Advisory Group and professor of neurology and director of fellowships of neurology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. "Participation in Get With The Guidelines is associated with improved patient outcomes, fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates — a win for healthcare systems, families and communities."

Mount Auburn Hospital also received the following recognition awards:

• American Heart Association's Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite: To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet specific criteria that reduce the time between an eligible patient's arrival at the hospital and treatment with thrombolytic therapy.
• American Heart Association's Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll: Target: Type 2 Diabetes aims to ensure patients with Type 2 diabetes, who might be at higher risk for complications, receive the most up-to-date, evidence-based care when hospitalized due to stroke.

About Mount Auburn Hospital

Mount Auburn Hospital was founded in 1886. A teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, its mission is to provide clinically excellent care with compassion and to teach students of medicine and the health professions.

Mount Auburn Hospital is a part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, a healthcare system that brings together academic medical centers and teaching hospitals, community and specialty hospitals, more than 4,700 physicians and 39,000 employees in a shared mission to expand access to great care and advance the science and practice of medicine through groundbreaking research and education.