Advocate Trinity Hospital Acheives Silver Status in Stroke Care

Advocate Trinity Hospital, 2320 E. 93^rd St., with one of the busiest stroke programs in the Chicagoland area, has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s (AHA/ASA) Get With The Guidelines^® Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award.

Trinity received this recognition for the hospital’s success and commitment to caring for stroke patients. Hospitals receiving the Get With the Guidelines Silver Plus Performance Award have reached an aggressive goal of treating stroke patients with 85 percent or higher compliance to core standard levels of care, as outlined by the AHA/ASA, for 12 consecutive months.

In addition to the Silver Award, Advocate Trinity made the AHA/ASA’s Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll for following stroke quality measures that reduce the time between a patient’s arrival at the hospital and the onset of treatment using the clot-buster.

“This is a proud moment in our history for stroke care delivery. In addition to our seven-year designation as a Primary Stroke Care Center, this honor acknowledges all the investments we’ve made over the years. We continuously adhere to nationally-recognized treatment protocols, which lessen the disabling impacts of stroke and give patients a fighting chance for recovery,” says Terika Richardson, president, Advocate Trinity Hospital.

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds, someone dies of a stroke every four minutes, and nearly 800,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

For patients like Catherine Layne, the good news about Advocate Trinity’s Get With the Guidelines Silver Plus Performance Award simply reinforces what she already knew. The experts at Advocate Trinity have the knowledge and expertise to deal with the complications of stroke. After her 2011 stroke, Layne, 70, needed physical therapy and surgeries that removed her carotid artery and thyroid.

“Back then, I was still working. And all I could think about was ‘who was going to take care of me ” she says. “Thankfully, Trinity is an excellent hospital with good doctors and good staff. They take care of you.” Today, Layne is a retired CTA bus driver who enjoys travelling and spending several days a week at a Southside senior citizen club where she enjoys karaoke, playing Bingo and assembling large jigsaw puzzles with her group of friends.