GRASS VALLEY, CA, APRIL 10, 2009 - Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital has earned the Gold Seal of Approval™ from The Joint Commission for Primary Stroke Centers. Sierra Nevada Memorial earned this distinction after the Joint Commission conducted an on-site review in at the end of March.
"Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital demonstrated that its stroke care program follows national standards and guidelines that can significantly improve outcomes for stroke patients," says Jean E. Range, MS, RN, CPHQ, Executive Director, Disease-Specific Care Certification, Joint Commission.
Each year about 700,000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke, which is the nation’s third leading cause of death. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 45 seconds and someone dies of a stroke every 3.1 minutes. Stroke is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States, with about 4.7 million stroke survivors alive today.
"We're proud to achieve the distinction," says Chief Nurse Executive Mary Gish. "Joint Commission Primary Stroke Center Certification recognizes Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital's commitment to providing outstanding care to our patients and our community."
The Joint Commission's Primary Stroke Center Certification is based on the recommendations for primary stroke centers published by the Brain Attack Coalition and the American Stroke Association's statements/guidelines for stroke care. The Joint Commission launched the program - the nation's first - in 2003.
Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital implemented new stroke response protocol in August 2008 to standardize and improve the quality of care for patients. Since then, nearly 80 people have been treated for stroke.
"The entire staff at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital is dedicated to doing all we can to improve stroke care in our community," says Stroke Program Medical Director Nicholas Browning, MD. "I'd like to remind everyone that it is better to prevent a stroke than to treat one, and carefully controlling your blood pressure is one of the best ways to reduce the risk of stroke."
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Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital is a 121-bed not-for-profit community hospital serving western Nevada County in the Northern California foothills. The hospital provides comprehensive acute care including cancer, emergency, maternal health and surgical services. SNMH is affiliated with Catholic Healthcare West, a system of 43 hospitals in California, Arizona and Nevada. CHW is the largest not-for-profit provider of hospital services in California and the eighth largest hospital system in the nation. For more information visit our web site at snmh.org.
Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of health care accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in health care organizations. The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits more then 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States, including more than 8,000 hospitals and home care organizations, and more than 6,800 other health care organizations that provide long term care, assisted living, behavioral health care, laboratory and ambulatory care services. The Joint Commission also accredits health plans, integrated delivery networks, and other managed care entities. In addition, the Joint Commission provides certification of disease-specific care programs, primary stroke centers, and health care staffing services. An independent, not-for-profit organization, the Joint Commission is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Learn more about the Joint Commission and view a list of programs certified by them at jointcommission.org.
