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Lewis County Health System Awarded for Efforts to Improve
Rural Stroke Care
Published: September 05, 2023
at 08:30 p.m.
By: Press Release from Lewis County Health System
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 5, 2023
Lewis County Health System Awarded for Efforts to Improve
Rural Stroke Care
The American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke Rural Recognition Bronze award
recognizes efforts to address the unique health
needs of rural communities
Lowville, NY — People who live
in rural communities live an average of three years fewer than urban
counterparts and have a 40% higher likelihood of developing heart disease
and face a 30% increased risk for stroke mortality — a gap that has grown
over the past two decades.[1],[2] Lewis County Health System (LCHS) is
committed to changing that.
For efforts to
optimize stroke care and eliminate rural health care outcome disparities, Lewis
County Health System has received the American Heart Association’s Get
With The Guidelines® - Stroke Rural Recognition Bronze award.
The American
Heart Association, the world’s leading nonprofit organization focused on
heart and brain health for all, recognizes the importance of health care
services provided to people living in rural areas by rural hospitals that
play a vital role in initiation of timely evidence-based care. For that
reason, all rural hospitals participating in Get With
The Guidelines® - Stroke are eligible to receive award
recognition based on a unique methodology focused on early acute stroke
performance metrics.
“We are proud
that our team at Lewis County Health System is being recognized for the
important work we do every day to improve the lives of people in Lewis
County who are affected by stroke, giving them the best possible chance of
recovery and survival,” said Marcy Teal, BSN, RN, LCHS Chief Nursing
Officer. “As a hospital in a rural community, we deal with characteristics,
such as extended interfacility transportation times, and limited staffing
resources. We've made it a goal to make sure those hurdles do not affect the
standard of care our stoke patients receive.”
“Rural
communities deserve high quality stroke care. I applaud our team for their
commitment to stroke care excellence and this achievement,” said Gerald Cayer,
MPH, LCHS Chief Executive Officer.
The award
recognizes hospitals for their efforts toward acute stroke care excellence
demonstrated by composite score compliance to guideline-directed care for
intravenous thrombolytic therapy, timely hospital inter-facility transfer,
dysphagia screening, symptom timeline and deficit assessment documentation,
emergency medical services communication, brain imaging and stroke expert
consultation.
“Patients and
health care professionals in Lewis County and the North Country face unique
health care challenges and opportunities,” said Karen E. Joynt Maddox,
M.D., MPH, volunteer expert for the American Heart Association, co-author
on “Call to Action: Rural Health: A Presidential Advisory From the American
Heart Association and American Stroke Association” and co-director of the
Center for Health Economics and Policy at the Institute for Public Health
at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. “Lewis County Health System
has furthered this important work to improve care for all Americans,
regardless of where they live.”
In photo: Front row L to R – Lyndsey Allen, RN, Felicia Bacon, PharmD, Sherry
Beyer, PT, Megan Stockman, RN, and Rebecca Keefer, RN. Back Row L to R – Robert Pfieffer, Lucy
Austin, PharmD, Tracie Davoy, RN, Marcy Teal, RN,
Emily Paulsen, RN, and Randy Mullin.
[1] https://newsroom.heart.org/news/american-heart-association-issues-call-to-action-for-addressing-inequities-in-rural-health;
https://newsroom.heart.org/news/public-health-americorps-to-address-health-inequity-in-rural-communities.
[1] https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000753#R16
About Lewis
County Health System
Lewis Health
System offers inpatient and outpatient care services and a 24-hour
physician-staffed emergency department to meet the health needs of over
30,000 county residents and seasonal visitors. The system includes a 25-bed
critical access hospital, 160-bed nursing home, three specialty centers
(surgery, orthopedics, and women's health), internal medicine and family
practice clinics located in Beaver Falls, Copenhagen, Lowville, and Lyons
Falls, a school-based health clinic at South Lewis Central School, hospice,
and home health services.
About the
American Heart Association
The American
Heart Association is a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives.
We are dedicated to ensuring equitable health in all communities. Through
collaboration with numerous organizations, and powered by millions of
volunteers, we fund innovative research, advocate for the public’s health
and share lifesaving resources. The Dallas-based organization has been a
leading source of health information for nearly a century. Connect with us
on heart.org, Facebook, Twitter or by calling 1-800-AHA-USA1.
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