Appling Healthcare awarded for efforts to improve rural stroke care
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The American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® – Stroke Rural Recognition Bronze award recognizes efforts to address the unique health needs of rural communities. People who live in rural communities live an average of three years fewer than urban counterparts and have a 40% higher likelihood of developing heart disease and face a 30% increased risk for stroke mortality — a gap that has grown over the past two decades.
Appling Healthcare is committed to changing that.
For efforts to optimize stroke care and eliminate rural health care outcome disparities, Appling Healthcare has received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® – Stroke Rural Recognition Bronze 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 Appling Healthcare is being recognized for the important work we do every day to improve the lives of people in our area who are affected by stroke, giving them the best possible chance of recovery and survival,” said Shannah Martin, RN, MSN, LHNA, CEO. “As a hospital in a rural community, we deal with characteristics such as extended interfacility transportation times and limited staffing resources. We’ve made it a goal to make sure those hurdles do not affect the standard of care our stoke patients receive.
“Rural communities deserve high-quality stroke care. I’m proud of our team for their commitment to stroke care excellence and this achievement.”
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 transfers, dysphagia screening, symptom timeline and deficit assessment documentation, emergency medical services communication, brain imaging and stroke expert consultation.
1 American Heart Association. American Heart Association issues call to action for addressing inequities in rural health. February 10, 2020.
https://newsroom.heart.org/news/american-heart-association-issues-call-to-action-for-addressing-inequities-in-rural-health; American Heart Association. Public Health AmeriCorps to address health inequity in rural communities. April 6, 2022. https://newsroom.heart.org/news/public-health-americorps-to-address-health-inequity-in-rural-communities.
2 Harrington R, et al. Call to Action: Rural Health: A Presidential Advisory From the American Heart Association and
American Stroke Association. Circulation. 2020;141:e615–e644.
“Patients and health care professionals in our area face unique health care challenges and opportunities,” said Karen E. Joynt Maddox, M.D., MPH, co-author on the American Heart Association’s presidential advisory on rural health. “Appling Healthcare has furthered this important work to improve care for all Americans, regardless of where they live.”
About Appling Healthcare
Appling Healthcare has proudly served the residents of Baxley and surrounding communities for more than 70 years, delivering high-quality, compassionate care with a small-town heart.
Established in 1951, the organization has grown into a comprehensive healthcare system offering a wide range of services including emergency care, general surgery, primary and pediatric care, inpatient and outpatient therapy, behavioral health, and a 101-bed skilled nursing facility. As a nonprofit acute care facility licensed for 64 beds, Appling Healthcare is committed to providing personalized, patient-centered care supported by advanced medical technology and a dedicated team of providers and staff. For more information, visit ahcs.org
About Get With The Guidelines®
Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 14 million patients since 2001. For
more information, visit heart.org.
