St. Claire Regional Medical Center (SCR) recently earned two achievement awards from The Norton Healthcare/UK HealthCare - Stroke Care Network; the 2015 "Pioneer Award" for its innovation and the “Galileo Award” for its comprehensive approach in improving stroke assessment and care for its patients.
At the Stroke Care Network’s annual summit in Lexington on July 24, Dr. Michael Dobbs, director of the Stroke Care Network, commended SCR for their commitment to excellence in stroke assessment and care. "St. Claire Regional's commitment to quality improvement and dedication of resources to provide their patients with the highest quality stroke care is to be commended," Dr. Dobbs said. "Everyone's goal is to provide the best care for stroke patients as close to home as possible and SCR’s efforts embody that principle."
“The hard work and dedication of SCR staff to advance stroke care and education in our region is a good example of SCR’s commitment to provide the highest quality healthcare services possible,” said Mark J. Neff, President/CEO of St. Claire Regional.
The Stroke Care Network’s director of education and quality, Lisa Bellamy, RN, CPHQ, notes that SCR has gone above and beyond to take a cutting-edge and comprehensive approach to stroke education.
“St. Claire Regional already had a great stroke program, but Christa Thompson, MSN, RN, director of education and the stroke program coordinator at SCR, dared to ask is this enough,” Bellamy said.
“St. Claire Regional has demonstrated a strong commitment to their community by not only implementing minimum education for their staff about stroke and stroke assessment but also by implementing a process to ensure competency beyond the initial training,” she continued. “They are a ‘Pioneer’ in this area because their method to evaluate the answer to the question of is this enough was approached scientifically and the results challenged us all do better. In fact, their work to advance stroke education for practitioners was presented at the International Stroke Conference, and programs across the nation were inspired to think outside of the box.”
“The ‘Galileo Award’ was earned by St. Claire Regional for their exemplary participation in local, regional, national and international stroke educational offerings. Stroke care is advancing quickly and learning from the stroke experts at these conventions helps to assure SCR’s stroke program incorporates the latest evidence-based practices.”
In January 2014, UK HealthCare was designated a Comprehensive Stroke Center by the Joint Commission and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. UK HealthCare was the 63rd U.S. institution and the only hospital in central and eastern KY to be awarded this designation, which is the highest honor The Joint Commission awards to stroke centers.
Comprehensive Stroke Center Certification recognizes those hospitals that have state-of-the-art infrastructure, staff and training to receive and treat patients with the most complex strokes, including advanced imaging capabilities, 24/7 availability of specialized treatments, and staff with the unique education and competencies to care for complex stroke patients.
As an affiliate in the Stroke Care Network, SCR has access to Norton Healthcare and UK HealthCare’s expertise and resources to best ensure their hospital offers “the best care for stroke” for their service region.
(story provided by SCRMC)
