BCH receives American Heart Association awards for stroke and type 2 diabetes

Boulder Community Health (BCH) has received the American Heart Association’s GoldPlus Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Quality Achievement Award for our commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines.

Stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the U.S. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds, and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or repeated stroke each year. Early stroke detection and treatment are key to improving survival, minimizing disability and speeding recovery times.

​​Get With The Guidelines-Stroke was developed to assist health care professionals in providing the most up-to-date, research-based treatment to stroke patients.

“BCH is honored to be recognized by the American Heart Association for our dedication to helping patients have the best possible chance of survival and recovery following a stroke,” said BCH’s Associate Chief Nursing Officer Michele Sternitzky. “Get With The Guidelines-Stroke makes it easier for our teams to put proven knowledge and guidelines to work on a daily basis to improve outcomes for patients diagnosed with stroke."

Each year program participants apply for the award by demonstrating how their organization has committed to providing quality care for stroke patients. In addition to following treatment guidelines, BCH also provides extensive education to patients to help them manage their health and rehabilitation once they are back at home.

“We are pleased to recognize BCH for its commitment to stroke care,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., national chairperson of the Quality Oversight Committee and Executive Vice Chair of Neurology, Director of Acute Stroke Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. “Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines quality improvement initiative can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.”

BCH also received the Heart Association’s Target Stroke Elite Honor Roll award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and the start of treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.

In addition, BCH received the Heart Association’s Target Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll award for our commitment to reducing cardiovascular deaths, heart attacks and strokes in people living with type 2 diabetes. The Target Type2 Diabetes program recognizes organizations for improving quality of care through awareness, detection and management of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk factors by educating and empowering patients with evidence-based information and tools.