July 12, 2024, Washington Township, NJ -– Jefferson Health’s New Jersey hospitals – in Washington Township, Stratford and Cherry Hill -- have each received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines^® - Stroke GOLD PLUS quality achievement award. This award recognizes their commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment, based on nationally recognized, research-based guidelines that ultimately lead to more lives saved and reduced disability.

Stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of disability in the USA.  A stroke occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts, causing brain cells to die. Early stroke detection and treatment are vital to improving survival, minimizing disability, and accelerating recovery times.

Get With the Guidelines puts the expertise of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to work for hospitals nationwide, helping ensure patient care is aligned with the latest research- and evidence-based guidelines. Get With the Guidelines-Stroke is an in-hospital program for improving stroke care through consistent adherence to these guidelines, which can minimize the long-term effects of a stroke and even prevent death.

“Jefferson Health New Jersey is committed to improving patient care by adhering to the latest treatment guidelines,” said Mary Ledwith, MSN, RN, BC-NE, Corporate Director of Neuroscience for Jefferson in New Jersey. “The end goal is to ensure more people in South Jersey can experience longer, healthier lives.”

Our expert medical team offers the highest level of care close to home, and are at the heart of South Jersey to improve lives and save brains.

Participation in Get with the Guidelines is associated with improved patient outcomes, fewer readmissions, and lower mortality rates a win for healthcare systems, families, and communities.

Jefferson’s three New Jersey Hospitals also received the American Heart Association’s Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll award. This program aims to ensure patients with Type 2 diabetes, who might be at higher risk for complications, receive the most up-to-date, evidence-based care when hospitalized for stroke. Jefferson’s hospitals in Stratford and Washington Township were also named to the AHA’s Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet specific criteria that reduce the time between an eligible patient’s arrival and treatment with clot-busting medication.

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About Jefferson                  

Nationally ranked, Jefferson, principally located in the greater Philadelphia region and southern New Jersey, is reimagining health care and higher education to create unparalleled value. Jefferson is more than 42,000 people strong, dedicated to providing the highest-quality, compassionate clinical care for patients, making our communities healthier and stronger, preparing tomorrow's professional leaders for 21st-century careers, and creating new knowledge through basic/programmatic, clinical, and applied research. Thomas Jefferson University, home of Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Jefferson College of Nursing, and the Kanbar College of Design, Engineering, and Commerce, dates back to 1824 and today comprises ten colleges and three schools offering 200+ undergraduate and graduate programs to more than 8,300 students. Jefferson Health, nationally ranked as one of the top healthcare systems in the country and the largest provider in the Philadelphia area, serves patients through millions of encounters each year at 17 hospitals and more than 160 outpatient and urgent care locations throughout the region. Jefferson Health Plans is a not-for-profit managed healthcare organization providing a broad range of health coverage options in Pennsylvania and New Jersey for more than 35 years.