Six Valley Health System Hospitals Earn Honors for Stroke, Heart Care
In the ongoing commitment to the rapid education, evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of stroke and heart attacks, the six hospitals of The Valley Health System (VHS) have all received the American Heart Association®/American Stroke Association® Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Quality Achievement Awards, along with Mission: Lifeline® awards for heart attack diagnosis, intervention and treatment. The awards recognize the hospitals’ commitment to ensuring stroke and heart patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.
“Our hospitals have been focused on cardiovascular outcomes for years,” said Karla Perez, Regional Vice President of The Valley Health System. “This includes staff, physician and community education, along with the rapid diagnosis, intervention and treatment of heart and stroke diseases in our emergency departments and our inpatient nursing units. We are very proud this has led to award-winning care and outcomes using clinically based outcomes guidelines.”
“Years of identifying and understanding these medical conditions have led to the accurate diagnosis and intervention of cardiovascular disease patients, which saves and extends lives. This is our mission for every patient we treat,” said Dan McBride, MD, Chief Medical Officer of The Valley Health System. “There is so much at stake to help our patients recover and discover what they have to live for, and it’s a responsibility that every employee and physician takes very seriously.”
Each hospital earned its awards by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular patients at a set level for a designated period.
According to the American Heart Association, the VHS hospitals have achieved the following awards:
Centennial Hills Hospital
- Get With the Guidelines 2020 Gold Plus Stroke Quality Achievement Award and Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite and Target: Diabetes Honor Roll
- American Heart Association Mission: Lifeline 2020 Gold STEMI Receiving Center Quality Achievement Award
Desert Springs Hospital
- Get With the Guidelines 2020 Gold Plus Stroke Quality Achievement Award and Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite and Target: Diabetes Honor Roll
- American Heart Association Mission: Lifeline 2020 Gold STEMI Receiving Center Quality Achievement Award
- Get with the Guidelines 2020 Silver Plus Heart Failure Quality Achievement Award
Henderson Hospital
- Get With the Guidelines 2020 Gold Plus Stroke Quality Achievement Award
- American Heart Association Mission: Lifeline 2020 Gold Plus STEMI Receiving Center Quality Achievement Award
Spring Valley Hospital
- Get With the Guidelines 2020 Gold Plus Stroke Quality Achievement Award and Target: Stroke Honor Roll
- American Heart Association Mission: Lifeline 2020 Gold STEMI Receiving Center Quality Achievement Award
- American Heart Association Mission: Lifeline 2020 Bronze NSTEMI Receiving Center Quality Achievement Award
Summerlin Hospital
- Get With the Guidelines 2020 Gold Plus Stroke Quality Achievement Award and Target: Diabetes Honor Roll
- American Heart Association Mission: Lifeline 2020 Gold STEMI Receiving Center Quality Achievement Award
Valley Hospital
- Get With the Guidelines 2020 Gold Plus Stroke Quality Achievement Award and Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite and Target: Diabetes Honor Roll
- American Heart Association Mission: Lifeline 2020 Gold STEMI Receiving Center Quality Achievement Award
Living a Healthy Life Today
“It is vital that our family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, neighbors and fellow citizens undertake physical activity, review their diets, lose weight, stop smoking and both understand and take action to improve their numbers for blood pressure, cholesterol and AIC for diabetes so they don’t become a statistic,” McBride said.
Important Statistics
- According to the 2020 statistics from the American Heart Association, someone in the United States has a stroke about every 40 seconds and, in 2017, it accounted for about one of every 19 deaths in the country. Additionally, in 2017, there were 90,098 deaths attributed to hypertension (high blood pressure). It is anecdotally referred to as the silent killer and is a top risk factor for having a stroke.*
- Heart disease remains the number one cause of death in the United States, accounting for approximately 13 percent of deaths in 2017 (approximately 365,914 deaths, about 1,000 people per day). *
- The American Heart Association tracks seven key health factors that increase the risk for heart disease and stroke. These include smoking, physical inactivity, nutrition choices, overweight/obesity, cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure. *