ERIE, Pa., June 26, 2017 – UPMC Northwest recently received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus, the highest level of award in the national program.

The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to providing the most appropriate stroke treatment, according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines established from the latest scientific evidence.

To achieve the Gold Plus Target Stroke: Honor Roll Elite Plus award, hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher composite adherence on all stroke performance achievement measures.  A 75 percent or higher compliance for each specific quality measure must also have been obtained, and sustained, for a two-year period.  Additionally, target stroke measures, including 11 best practice strategies, have been surpassed in more than 50 percent of stroke patients at UPMC Northwest.

The Get With The Guidelines stroke journey at UPMC Northwest began in 2005.  The stroke program has had a significant impact on stroke care in the region including:

• More than 3,100 patients have been treated at UPMC Northwest for stroke care.
• In 2005, 50 percent of patients who arrives in 2 hours from symptom onset were treated by the three-hour goal.  In 2016, 100% of those patients were treated within three hours.
• For those patients, one of five received tPA, a clot busting drug, within 60 minutes in 2005.  In 2016, 12 of 12 patients met this expectation.
• Eighty percent of patients who met the extended 4.5-hour window were treated within the time frame.

“Every minute until blood supply returns to the brain translates to the brain losing 1.9 million neurons,” said James McLaughlin, D.O., neurologist and stroke program director. “We’ve done a tremendous job of saving many brain cells for our patients here and are fortunate to have such an outstanding and dedicated team which makes this possible.”

“One of the main goals of the UPMC Northwest stroke team is to get our patients home sooner,” said Dr. McLaughlin, “In 2005, the number of days in the hospital for all types of stroke patients was 4.02 and 5.09 for ischemic strokes. In 2016, stays over all were from one to 3.18 days overall and 3.33 days for ischemic strokes.”

UPMC Northwest has an active stroke support group led by Robert Pilewski, M.D., and community stroke screenings also provide education. “Our stroke program and its achievements demonstrate the dedication of the staff to our patients,” said Beverly Lawton, R.N., M.S.N., stroke program coordinator. “The efforts of Dr. Pilewski and Dr. McLaughlin set the standard for all of us.”

“The recognition from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association further reinforces our team’s hard work,” said Dr. McLaughlin. ”No single individual can accomplish the success of our stroke program here at UPMC Northwest,” said Dr. McLaughlin. “It takes an entire team from emergency services to rehabilitation; it’s all about teamwork.”

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.