PRESS RELEASES
Stroke Program Receives Two Prestigious Awards
ADDISON
GILBERT HOSPITAL RECEIVES TWO PRESTIGIOUS
AWARDS RELATED TO STROKE CARE
Awarded Defect-Free Care and Door
to CT Time Target awards from Massachusetts Department of
Public Health
(Gloucester, MA) June 23 - Addison Gilbert
Hospital has received the Defect-free Care Award from the Stroke
Collaborative Reaching for Excellence (SCORE), a voluntary
statewide quality improvement collaborative administered by the
Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH), that supports
Primary Stroke Service hospitals. Defect-free care is achieved when
every patient receives the appropriate care based on clinical
guidelines. The hospital also received the Door-to-CT Time Target
Award that supports Primary Stroke Service hospitals. The award
recognizes hospitals that provide prompt computed tomography (CT)
scans of patients with stroke symptoms.
The SCORE Defect-free Care Award recognizes hospitals that
provided high-quality care to the majority of their stroke patients
over a specific 12-month period. The number of SCORE hospitals
eligible for this award has increased significantly since last
year, resulting in many more patients receiving high quality
care.
The impact of time can limit treatment options for stroke,
because there is a three-hour window between symptom onset and the
use of IV-TPA for ischemic strokes. This clot-busting treatment is
the only FDA-approved treatment for eligible ischemic stroke
patients. Ischemic strokes, caused by clots, account for the
majority of stroke cases.
A CT scan of the brain is a critical part of stroke assessment
and helps determine the best treatment for each patient. Rapid
assessment is important for stroke because more and more brain
cells die as a stroke continues. Quickly assessing and
appropriately treating a patient increases the likelihood of a
better outcome in a patient, lowering the risk for disability and
death.
"We are extremely proud and honored that our continued
dedication and passion for providing high quality care to each and
every one of our patients was recognized by these prestigious
awards from the DPH's SCORE program," said Thom Kelly, RN and
Clinical Coordinator of Stroke Programs at Northeast Hospital
Corporation. "By following the lead of our Chief Nursing Officer
and Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services, Greg Bird whose
mantra is 'Every Patient, Every Time', we will continue to deliver
high quality healthcare to the residents of Cape Ann."
AddisonGilbert
Hospital
Addison Gilbert Hospital is a full service, medical/surgical
acute care facility. The hospital, founded in 1889, provides
state-of-the-art inpatient and outpatient care to residents of the
Cape Ann community in specialties such as primary care, emergency
services, radiology and mammography, cancer care, day surgery,
physical and occupational therapy, gynecology, inpatient senior
health services, and a variety of specialty physician services.
Among all other Massachusetts hospitals, Addison Gilbert continues
to score among the top hospitals in the nation for patient
satisfaction in surveys conducted by Press Ganey Associates.

L-R: Thomas Kelly, RN; Clinical Coordinator of Stroke
Programming; Cindy Cafasso-Donaldson, Vice President of Ancillary
Services and Executive Director of Addison Gilbert Hospital;
Pauline Pike, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
and Laura Coe, MPH Coordinator.