St. Luke receives American Heart Association award
Awarded for work eliminating rural health disparities
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News from St. Luke Community Healthcare
People who live in rural communities live an average of three years fewer than their urban counterparts and face a 30% increased risk for stroke mortality — a gap that has grown over the past two decades. The team at St. Luke Community Healthcare is committed to changing that.
For efforts to improve stroke care and eliminate rural health disparities, St. Luke recently received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke Rural Recognition Bronze Performance award. “The facility began participating in the program last August,” shared St. Luke Emergency Department Manager, Stephanie Reffner, “so we were only eligible for the Bronze Performance award this year. However, we are pleased to have obtained it and, once we have achieved a full year of data reporting, we look forward to achieving Silver Recognition.”
The American Heart Association, the world’s leading nonprofit organization focused on heart and brain health for all, recognizes that people in rural areas face a unique set of challenges to accessing health care and that rural hospitals must work with varied patient care dynamics. For that reason, all rural hospitals participating in Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke are eligible to receive award recognition focused on a unique set of performance metrics.
“We are proud that our team at St. Luke is being recognized for the important work we do every day to improve the lives of people in the Mission Valley who are affected by stroke, giving them the best possible chance of recovery and survival,” said Reffner. “Meeting the unique needs of our community is critical to improving health outcomes.”
Learn more at heart.org/ruralrecognition.
