News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 9, 2014 

HHC Elmhurst Hospital Achieves Excellence in Stroke Care

HHC’s Elmhurst Hospital Center Honored With “Gold Plus” Award for Excellence in Stroke Care

Hospital ranked among the best facilities in the nation for providing care to stroke patients

Elmhurst, NY –  Elmhurst Hospital Center (EHC), part of the New York City Health and Hospital Corporation (HHC), has been awarded the “Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold-Plus Quality Achievement Award” by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. The award is given to hospitals that successfully implement specific quality improvement measures for the treatment of stroke patients.

The Association also named Elmhurst Hospital to its “Stroke Honor Roll” for meeting stroke quality measures that reduce the time between hospital arrival and treatment with the clot-buster tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.

“Elmhurst Hospital Center is dedicated to improving the quality of stroke care and The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines–Stroke Gold-Plus Quality Achievement Award helps us achieve that goal,” said Chris Constantino, Senior Vice President of the Queens Health Network and Executive Director of EHC. “With this award, our hospital demonstrates our commitment to ensure that our patients receive care based on internationally, respected clinical guidelines.”

“This achievement reflects the continuous efforts to improve stroke care for our patients by a team of dedicated physicians, nurses, and support staff,” said Gordon Cantor, MD, EHC’s Associate Attending Director of Neurology. “This award reinforces EHC’s commitment to providing a level of stroke care that ranks among the best hospitals in the country."

EHC earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients, including aggressive use of medications and risk-reduction therapies aimed at reducing death and disability, and improving the lives of stroke patients.

“We are pleased to recognize Elmhurst Hospital Center for their commitment and dedication to stroke care,” said Deepak L. Bhatt, M.D., M.P.H., National Chairman of the Get With The Guidelines steering committee, Executive Director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Studies have shown that hospitals that consistently follow Get With The Guidelines quality improvement measures can reduce patients’ length of stays and 30-day re-admission rates, and reduce disparity gaps in care.”

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the number four cause of death and a leading cause of adult 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. Patients seeking more information about Elmhurst Hospital Center should call (718) 334-4000.

 

Contact: Jennifer Bender, (HHC) (212) 788-3339, Odalys Montpeirous, (Elmhurst) (718) 334-2375

About Elmhurst Hospital Center

Elmhurst Hospital Center (EHC), part of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), is the major tertiary care provider in the borough of Queens. The hospital is comprised of 545 beds and is a Level 1 Trauma Center, an Emergency Heart Care Station and a 911-Receiving Hospital. It is a premiere health care organization for key areas such as Surgery, Cardiology, Women’s Health, Pediatrics, Rehabilitation Medicine, and Renal and Mental Health Services. Last year, EHC received close to 700,000 ambulatory care visits and over 130,000 Emergency Room visits.

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 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 4 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org/quality or heart.org/myhealthcare.

About HHC

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) is a $6.7 billion integrated healthcare delivery system, the largest municipal healthcare organization in the country, and one of the New York area's largest providers of government-sponsored health insurance, MetroPlus Health Plan, the plan of choice for nearly half a million New Yorkers. HHC serves 1.4 million New Yorkers every year and more than 475,000 are uninsured. HHC provides medical, mental health and substance abuse services through its 11 acute care hospitals, five skilled nursing facilities, six large diagnostic and treatment centers and more than 70 community based clinics. HHC Health and Home Care also provides in-home services for New Yorkers. HHC was the 2008 recipient of the National Quality Forum and The Joint Commission's John M. Eisenberg Award for Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality. For more information, visit www.nyc.gov/hhc or find us on facebook.com/nycHHC or twitter.com/HHCnyc.