Portsmouth Regional Hospital receives Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus with Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll

Portsmouth, NH – Portsmouth Regional Hospital (PRH), home to the Seacoast’s only Comprehensive Stroke Center, has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus with Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll. Portsmouth’s sister hospital Parkland Medical Center in Derry also was recognized, earning the Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite with Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll.

The awards recognize the hospitals’ proven dedication to ensuring all stroke patients have access to best practices and life-saving care. This is the fifth straight year that Portsmouth Regional Hospital has been recognized for the award, and is the third consecutive year for Parkland Medical Center, an advanced Primary Stroke center.

“As the first Comprehensive Stroke Center in the state of New Hampshire, and the only one on the Seacoast, Portsmouth Regional Hospital continually strives to improve stroke patients’ recoveries and outcomes, and putting these proven guidelines from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association into practice helps us achieve this goal,” said Archie McGowan, MD, interventional radiologist and Co-Director of the Comprehensive Stroke Center at Portsmouth Regional Hospital. “This award is truly a joint effort, a collaboration between our EMS personnel, emergency physicians, cardiologists, radiologists, neurologists, and members of our stroke care team.”

Portsmouth Regional Hospital, one of just two Comprehensive Stroke Centers in New Hampshire, earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients. These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments aligned with the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines. The goal is to accelerate recovery and reduce death and disability for stroke patients. Before discharge, patients also must receive education on managing their health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.

“We are incredibly pleased to recognize Portsmouth Regional Hospital for its commitment to caring for patients with stroke,” said Steven Messe, M.D., chairperson of the Stroke System of Care Advisory Group. “Participation in Get with The Guidelines is associated with improved patient outcomes, fewer readmissions, and lower mortality rates — a win for health care systems, families and communities.”

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the number five cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. Early stroke detection and treatment are key to improving survival, minimizing disability and accelerating recovery times.