Tidelands Georgetown Memorial Hospital and Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital have earned recognition for dedication to high-quality stroke care.

The hospitals received Gold Plus Quality Achievement awards through the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke program. The awards recognize the hospitals’ commitment to providing stroke treatmentthat meets nationally accepted, evidence-based guidelines.

In addition, both hospitals earned the Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll award for meeting standards meant to reduce the time between a stroke patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-busting medication known as t-PA. The medication has been shown to significantly reduce the effects of stroke and lessen the chance of permanent disability if given intravenously in the first few hours after the start of ischemic stroke symptoms.

Tidelands Health, which recently strengthened its longtime affiliation with MUSC Health, also participates in the MUSC REACH Stroke Network, which connects Tidelands Health caregivers to MUSC stroke care experts to provide urgent consultations anytime. For example, a patient with onset of stroke in a Tidelands Health emergency department can be connected to a MUSC specialist who can assess the patient using a camera, interview family and more to provide the highest-level care quickly.

“Knowing every second counts, our team members are trained to respond quickly to signs of a stroke,” said Erin Brown, stroke program coordinator at Tidelands Health. “This recognition from the American Heart Association shows that our medical teams are adhering to the strictest standards in stroke care that help lead to the best outcomes and quality of life for our patients.”

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the United States suffers a stroke every 40 seconds and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

“We are pleased to recognize Tidelands Georgetown Memorial Hospital and Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital for their commitment to stroke care,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., national chairman of the Quality Oversight Committee and executive vice chairman of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital. “Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With the Guidelines quality improvement initiative can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.”

Tidelands Georgetown and Tidelands Waccamaw are certified by The Joint Commission as advanced primary care stroke centers, a certification that comes after a rigorous review of the hospitals’ practices and procedures.

In addition to the awards for stroke care, Tidelands Health hospitals earned the Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll award through the AHA’s Get With The Guidelines program. The hospitals were recognized for meeting quality measures in 2019.