Harrison Memorial Hospital Awarded for Efforts to Improve Rural Stroke Care

The American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® – Stroke Rural Recognition Silver award recognizes efforts to address the unique health needs of rural communities

People living in rural communities live an average of three years fewer than those in urban areas and have a 40% higher likelihood of developing heart disease, along with a 30% increased risk for stroke mortality — a disparity that has widened over the past two decades. Harrison Memorial Hospital is committed to changing that.

For its efforts to optimize stroke care and eliminate rural health care outcome disparities, Harrison Memorial Hospital has received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® – Stroke Rural Recognition Silver award.

The American Heart Association, the world’s leading nonprofit organization focused on heart and brain health for all, recognizes the importance of health care services provided to people living in rural areas by rural hospitals that play a vital role in initiation of timely evidence-based care. For that reason, all rural hospitals participating in Get With The Guidelines – Stroke are eligible to receive award recognition based on a unique methodology focused on early acute stroke performance metrics.

“We are proud that our team at Harrison Memorial Hospital is being recognized for the important work we do every day to improve the lives of people in our region affected by stroke, giving them the best possible chance of recovery and survival,” said Dr. Kathy Tussey, HMH Chief Executive Officer. “As a hospital in a rural community, we face challenges such as extended transportation times and limited staffing resources—but we are determined to ensure those hurdles do not impact the high standard of care we provide our stroke patients. Rural communities deserve high-quality stroke care. I’m incredibly proud of our team for their commitment to stroke care excellence and this achievement. In the future, we look forward to expanding our services even further, which would allow patients to stay close to home.”

The award recognizes hospitals for their efforts toward acute stroke care excellence demonstrated by composite score compliance to guideline-directed care for intravenous thrombolytic therapy, timely hospital inter-facility transfer, dysphagia screening, symptom timeline and deficit assessment documentation, emergency medical services communication, brain imaging and stroke expert consultation.

“Patients and health care professionals in rural areas face unique challenges and opportunities,” said Dr. Karen E. Joynt Maddox, co-author of the American Heart Association’s presidential advisory on rural health. “Harrison Memorial Hospital has furthered this important work to improve care for all Americans, regardless of where they live.”