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BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, OCTOBER 4, 2016 ― The Brooklyn Hospital Center (TBHC) announced that it has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Stroke^SM Honor Roll Elite. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to providing the most appropriate stroke treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines established with the latest scientific evidence.

Hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month periods and achieve 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality measures to receive the Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.

This is the sixth year in a row that TBHC has been recognized and received an award from the American Heart Association for its high-quality stroke care.

To qualify for the Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite, hospitals must meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and 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. If given intravenously in the first three hours after the start of stroke symptoms, tPA has been shown to significantly reduce the effects of stroke and lessen the chance of permanent disability. TBHC earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period.

These quality measures are designed to help hospital teams follow the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients.

“A stroke patient loses 1.9 million neurons each minute stroke treatment is delayed. This recognition further demonstrates our commitment to delivering advanced stroke treatments to patients quickly and safely,” said Gary Terrinoni, TBHC’s President and CEO. “The Brooklyn Hospital Center continues to strive for excellence in the acute treatment of stroke patients. The recognition from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke further reinforces our team’s hard work.”

TBHC is a New York State Department of Health designated Stroke Center, featuring a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department. New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene data show that stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the borough, with 498 deaths reported in 2014.

“The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association recognize The Brooklyn Hospital Center for its commitment to stroke care,” said Paul Heidenreich, M.D., M.S., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and Professor of Medicine at Stanford University. “Research has shown there are benefits to patients who are treated at hospitals that have adopted the Get With The Guidelines program.”

Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke puts the expertise of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to work for hospitals nationwide, helping hospital care teams ensure the care provided to patients is aligned with the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal to save lives and improve recovery time, Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke has impacted more than 3 million patients since 2003.

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds, someone dies of a stroke every four minutes, and nearly 800,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

About The Brooklyn Hospital Center

Founded as the borough’s first voluntary hospital, The Brooklyn Hospital Center has been keeping Brooklyn healthy since 1845. Today, it is a 464-bed community teaching hospital, and provides a full range of primary, specialty, diagnostic and tertiary care with a team of outstanding physicians, nurses and staff. TBHC services almost 300,000 annual patient visits throughout Brooklyn. Located in the heart of Downtown Brooklyn, TBHC is a clinical affiliate of The Mount Sinai Hospital and an academic affiliate of The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. TBHC has fully accredited, independent residency programs in emergency medicine, internal medicine, general surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, pharmacy, family medicine, general dentistry and oral and maxillofacial surgery. TBHC trains more than 250 physicians each year.

About Get With The Guidelines®

Get With The Guidelines is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with tools and resources to increase adherence to the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 6 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit www.heart.org.