Kennedy Health System

Kennedy University Hospital’s campuses in Stratford and Washington Township, NJ, have received achievement awards recently though the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® program.

All three Kennedy hospitals – located in Cherry Hill, Stratford and Washington Township -- are certified as Primary Stroke Centers by the New Jersey Department of Health & Senior Services. This designation was granted based on the hospitals’ advanced capabilities and protocols for the rapid and effective diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients.

• Kennedy University Hospital/Stratford recently received the Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus Achievement Award. It joins Kennedy – Cherry Hill hospital, which has twice previously received the Gold Plus Award. Kennedy – Stratford has been recognized for its commitment and success in implementing excellent care for stroke patients, according to evidence-based guidelines. To receive the award, Kennedy- Stratford achieved 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month intervals and achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with six of 10 quality measures. These measures include aggressive use of medications, such as tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol-reducing drugs and smoking cessation, all aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients. In 2011, Kennedy – Stratford received the GWTG-Stroke Silver Award.
• Kennedy University Hospital/Washington Township has been awarded the Get With The Guidelines^® Stroke Silver Performance Achievement Award. To receive the GWTG-Stroke Silver Performance Achievement Award, the hospital consistently complied with the requirements in the GWTG–Stroke program for at least one year. This 12-month evaluation period is the second in an ongoing self-evaluation by the hospital to continually reach the 85 percent compliance level needed to sustain this award. In 2011, Kennedy – Washington Township received the GWTG-Stroke Bronze Award.

“We commend Kennedy’s hospitals for their success in implementing standards of care and protocols,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., Chair of the National Get With the Guidelines Steering Committee and director of the TeleStroke and Acute Stroke Services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “The full implementation of acute care and secondary prevention recommendations and guidelines is a critical step in saving the lives and improving outcomes of stroke patients.”

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is one of the leading causes of death and serious, long-term disability in the United States. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every four minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.