Sanford Health Nationally Recognized For Its Commitment To Providing High-Quality Stroke Care

Sanford Health has received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke Gold Plus quality achievement award for its commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the best treatment.

Get With The Guidelines puts the expertise of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to work for hospitals nationwide, helping ensure patient care is aligned with the latest research- and evidence-based guidelines. Get With The Guidelines - Stroke is an in-hospital program for improving stroke care by promoting consistent adherence to these guidelines, which can minimize the long-term effects of a stroke and even prevent death.

“Sanford Health is committed to improving patients’ lives by providing world-class healthcare to America’s heartland,” said Dr. Divyajot Sandhu, interventional neurologist at Sanford Health in Sioux Falls. “In addition to being the only Joint Commission accredited stroke program in the region, it is an honor to also be recognized for our high-quality stroke care by the American Heart Association.”

Each year, program participants qualify for the award by demonstrating how their organization has committed to providing quality care for stroke patients. In addition to following treatment guidelines, Get With The Guidelines participants also educate patients to help them manage their health and recovery at home.

“We are incredibly pleased to recognize Sanford Health for its commitment to caring for patients with stroke,” said Steven Messe, M.D., volunteer chairperson of the American Heart Association Stroke System of Care Advisory Group and professor of neurology and director of fellowships of neurology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. “Participation in Get With The Guidelines is associated with improved patient outcomes, fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates – a win for health care systems, families and communities.”

In addition to being recognized for the Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke Gold Plus, Sanford Health received two additional awards from the American Heart Association — Target: Stroke℠ Honor Roll and Target: Type 2 Diabetes℠ Honor Roll. To qualify for these recognitions, 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 and 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.

For more information about Sanford Health’s stroke program, visit SanfordHealth.org keyword: Stroke.