Kaweah Delta To Receive National Stroke Quality Achievement Award On July 12
VISALIA – Kaweah Delta Medical Center will be presented with the
American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke
Silver Quality Achievement Award on Tuesday, July 12, in Visalia.
A representative from the American Heart Association will present the award
to Kaweah Delta at 2 p.m. in the Blue Room (basement) of Kaweah Delta
Medical Center, 400 W. Mineral King Ave.
“We have made a commitment to this community to provide excellent
stroke care. Being honored for our work to this point is a great accomplishment,
and we will continue doing everything we can to improve further,”
said Dr. Edward Hirsch, Kaweah Delta’s Chief Medical and Quality Officer.
Stroke patients such as William Wynne, of Lemoore, are grateful for the
care they received at Kaweah Delta. “I probably wouldn’t be
alive right now if it weren’t for everyone who cared for me,”
Wynne said.
Wynne and his wife Lois were on a drive to Sequoia National Park on Jan.
24, 2016, when suddenly their trip turned into a high-speed ambulance
ride. The couple had stopped at a restaurant outside the gate, but William’s
first bite of food dribbled down his chin. He couldn’t talk or move
his right arm. A nurse in the restaurant advised, “Call 911.”
“The care I received was beyond superlative,” Wynne said.
In 2015, Kaweah Delta established a stroke team to improve care for stroke
patients with a goal of becoming a primary stroke center through Joint
Commission accreditation by 2017. Kaweah Delta earned silver by ensuring
that patients with the stroke diagnosis and/or a transient ischemic attack
(TIA), “mini strokes,” receive treatment that meets nationally
accepted, evidence-based standards and recommendations set by the American
Heart Association/American Stroke Association.
On average, Kaweah Delta sees approximately 360-400 stroke patients and
150 TIA patients each year. Additionally, Kaweah Delta met the majority
of the American Heart Association’s stroke achievement and quality
measures for the past 12 months. Measures include the amount of time it
takes to provide stroke patients with clot busting medications if indicated
and whether stroke patients are given smoking cessation advice, among
others, said Cheryl Smit, Kaweah Delta’s Stroke Program Manager.