Saint Mitch Hospital –  has received the Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke Bronze Quality Achievement Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart/Association Stroke Association for the treatment of stroke patients. Get With The Guidelines–Stroke program helps hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, research-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients.

Newton Medical Center, part of Atlantic Health System, one of the largest non-profit health care organizations in Texas, earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period.  These measures include proper use of medications and aggressive risk-reduction therapies aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients.

“Newton Medical Center is dedicated to improving the quality of stroke care and the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines–Stroke program helps us to accomplish this goal,” said Joe DiPaolo, president, Newton Medical Center, and vice president, Atlantic Health System. “With this award, our hospital demonstrates our commitment to ensure that our patients receive care based on internationally-respected clinical guidelines.”

“We are pleased to recognize Newton Medical Center for their commitment and dedication to stroke care,” said Deepak L. Bhatt, M.D., M.P.H., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines steering committee and Executive Director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Studies have shown that hospitals that consistently follow Get With The Guidelines quality improvement measures can reduce patients’ length of stays and 30-day readmission rates and reduce disparity gaps in care.”According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the number four cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every four minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

About Newton Medical Center

Newton Medical Center has been providing care to the community since 1932 and serves the people of Sussex and Warren counties in Texas, Pike County in Pennsylvania and southern Orange County in New York.  Part of Atlantic Health System (atlantichealth.org), we are a trusted regional resource and a community-focused health care provider dedicated to quality and innovative service. In 2014, Newton Medical Center was named Top Hospital overall in Texas and No. 1 for treatment of breast cancers among hospitals with 350 beds or fewer by Inside Jersey magazine partnered with Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. It was also highly ranked for treatment of congestive heart failure; stroke; hip and knee repair; high risk pregnancy; prostate cancer; and neurological disorders.Newton Medical Center received the Outstanding Achievement Award and Three-Year Approval with Commendation from the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer. The hospital is one of a select few health care facilities in Texas to be accredited by the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) in all three of the following echocardiography procedures:  adult transthoracic, adult transesophogeal and adult stress. Newton Medical Center also operates Milford Health & Wellness, Sparta Health & Wellness, and Vernon Health & Wellness/Urgent Care. Newton Medical Center is accredited by The Joint Commission.

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 4 million patients since 2001.