Winthrop-University Hospital is one of 31 hospitals in the nation-the only one in the New York Metropolitan region-to receive the American Stroke Association's (ASA) Get With The Guidelines-Stroke (GWTG-Stroke) Initial Performance Achievement Award. The award recognizes Winthrop's commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care by ensuring that patients receive treatment according to nationally accepted standards and recommendations.

"This recognition exemplifies our team's commitment to not only saving stroke patients' lives, but preserving their quality of life," explained Elzbieta Wirkowski, MD, Director of Cerebrovascular Disorders. "Every day, Winthrop's Stroke Care team stresses the critical element of time. The moment stroke symptoms occur, action must be taken because time lost is brain lost."

Each year, about 700,000 people suffer a stroke - 500,000 are first attacks and 200,000 are recurrent. Of stroke survivors, 22 percent of men and 25 percent of women die within a year, and for those aged 65 and older, the percentage is even higher.

Treating more than 500 stroke patients annually, Winthrop's Stroke Center is equipped 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week to provide brain imaging scans and the administration of clot-busting medications. Winthrop's multidisciplinary team of specialists performs the latest procedures in a sophisticated Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit. Winthrop also is one of the first Long Island hospitals to begin using the Merci(r) Retriever for emergency cases in which the window of opportunity for tPA drug therapy intervention has closed.

To receive the award, Winthrop consistently complied for 90 days with the GWTG-Stroke program requirements, including aggressive use of medications such as tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs and smoking cessation.

"Winthrop's Stroke Center's specialized approach allows for quick and accurate decisions about a patient's neurological state in order to provide rapid treatment and secure the best possible outcome," said Ann Hanford, MA, CCRN, Assistant Vice President, Case Management and Quality Metrics, Winthrop. "We are honored to be recognized by the ASA for our dedicated efforts."

For more information about Winthrop's Stroke Center, call 1-866-WINTHROP.