(April 8, 2010) Sellersville, PA – Grand View Hospital has earned the Gold Seal of Approval^TM from The Joint Commission for Primary Stroke Centers. The hospital was awarded this distinction after The Joint Commission conducted an on-site review of the program in December, 2009.

“Grand View Hospital demonstrated that its stroke-care program follows national standards and guidelines that can significantly improve outcomes for stroke patients,” says Jean E. Range, MS, RN, CPHQ, executive director, Disease-Specific Care Certification, The Joint Commission.

Grand View has also received the 2009 American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award. The award recognizes commitment and success in implementing excellent care for stroke patients, according to evidence-based guidelines.

To receive the award, GVH achieved 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Performance Achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month intervals and achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with six of 10 Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Measures, which are reporting initiatives to measure quality of care.

“This is the second time our stroke-care program has received the certification from The Joint Commission as well as the second time we have been honored with Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Performance Achievement Award,” said Denise Kistler, RN, CNRN, stroke program coordinator. “Earning these distinctions again reaffirms that Grand View continues to meet high standards of care for our stroke patients.”

The Stroke Program at Grand View Hospital features leading-edge treatments including clot-busting thrombolytic therapy (t-PA), a drug that dissolves blockages in the brain within three hours after the start of a stroke. The hospital’s stroke program also offers inpatient and outpatient stroke rehabilitation services such as physical, occupational, speech, and swallowing therapies; comprehensive diagnostic care; compassionate case management, and social services to assist patients and their families with hospital discharge needs; and a carefully planned stroke recovery strategy designed specifically for the individual.

Each year about 795,000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke, which is the nation’s third leading cause of death. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds and someone dies of a stroke every 3.1 minutes. Stroke is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States, with about 4.7 million stroke survivors alive today.

Grand View Hospital, Bucks County’s first hospital, has provided residents of Bucks and Montgomery counties with comprehensive health care services since 1913. Grand View offers a range of inpatient and outpatient care – particularly emphasizing the areas of surgery and orthopaedics, women's and children's health, heart and vascular care, and cancer treatment.