Riverside receives American Heart Association Stroke-Gold PLUS Quality Achievement Award

Newport News, Virginia – June 16, 2022–Riverside Health System is proud to announce that Riverside Regional Medical Center, Riverside Walter Reed Hospital and Riverside Shore Memorial have all received the 2022 American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold PLUS Quality Achievement Awards. All three hospitals also earned an additional recognition for Target – Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll for their commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines, ultimately leading to more lives saved and reduced disability.

Additionally, Riverside Walter Reed Hospital was recognized for Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus and Riverside Regional Medical Center was recognized for Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite. According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, strokes are the number 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. A stroke occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts. When that happens, part of the brain cannot get the blood and oxygen it needs, so brain cells die. Early stroke detection and treatment are key to improving survival, minimizing disability, and accelerating recovery times.

Riverside Health System works across the region to ensure that stroke patients in the region receive the latest treatment protocols. Riverside Doctors Hospital Williamsburg, Riverside Walter Reed Hospital and Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital are designated as Primary Stroke Centers. Riverside Regional Medical Center is designated as a Certified Comprehensive Stroke Center – one of only seven in the state of Virginia.

“Riverside is dedicated to providing the highest quality of care for our stroke patients by adhering to the latest treatment guidelines,” said Dr. Pankajavalli Ramakrishnan, a neuro interventionalist and stroke neurologist at Riverside. “The fact that we can achieve and sustain recognitions like the AHA’s Get With The Guidelines award is a testament to the work of our entire team year after year. We are proud to offer world-class stroke care across our communities.”

Riverside earned the gold level award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a minimum of 24 months. These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and other  stroke treatments and aligned with the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines that resulted in improving recovery times and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Before discharge, patients also received education on managing their health, scheduled a follow-up visit, as well as other care transition interventions as needed.

To qualify for the Stroke Honor Roll and Honor Roll Elite awards, hospitals must meet specific criteria that reduce the time between an eligible patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster alteplase.

To qualify for the Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll award, hospitals must meet quality measures developed to ensure patients with Type 2 diabetes, who might be at higher risk for complications, receive the most up-to-date, evidence-based care when hospitalized due to stroke.

“We are incredibly pleased to recognize Riverside Regional Medical Center, Riverside Walter Reed Hospital and Riverside Shore Memorial for their commitment to caring for patients with stroke,” said Steven Messe, M.D., chairperson of the Stroke System of Care Advisory Group. “Participation in Get With The Guidelines isassociated with improved patient outcomes, fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates – a win for health care systems, families and communities.”

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