Christ Medical Center recognized for stroke care

Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn has been recognized for excellence in the treatment of stroke patients by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, according to a press release from the hospital.

Christ Medical Center has one of the largest stroke programs in the state of Illinois and is designated a primary stroke center by DNV Healthcare, which works with national health care authorities and health care providers around the world to effectively manage risk and improve health care delivery, according to its website.

The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association has selected the medical center and its Neurosciences Institute for another Stroke Gold Quality Achievement Award in recognition of the institutions ongoing commitment to evidence-based stroke-care guidelines under the AHA/ASA Get With The Guidelines program, according to Dr. Melvin Wichter, co-director of the Neurosciences Institute and chair of the medical centers neurology department. Get With The Guidelines provides the most up-to-date, research-based care standards to speed recovery and reduce death and disability among stroke patients, the release said.

To earn the award, the Christ Medical Center stroke team had to meet specific, quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period of time, the release said. The measures include aggressive use of medications, such as tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, and cholesterol-reducing drugs, and smoking-cessation education.

The medical center has also made the AHA/ASAs Target: Stroke honor roll for following stroke quality measures that reduce the time between a patients arrival at the hospital and the onset of treatment using the clot-buster tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke, according to the release.

People who suffer a stroke and receive tPA within three hours of the start of symptoms may recover more quickly and be less likely to suffer severe disabilities, experts say, according to Christ Medical Center.

With a stroke, time lost is brain lost. The Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Quality Achievement Award demonstrates Christ Medical Centers commitment to being one of the leading hospitals in the country for providing aggressive, proven stroke care, Dr. Franco Campanella, medical director of the Christ Medical Center stroke program, said in the release. We intend to continue our focus on providing care that has been shown in the scientific literature to treat patients quickly and efficiently with evidence-based protocols.

Advocate Christ Medical Center treats an estimated 1,200 stroke patients annually and offers a variety of advanced treatment options, according to the release.

Staff report

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Christ Medical Center recognized for stroke care