Tift Regional Medical Center recently earned three awards from the American Heart Association: Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure Gold Plus, Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus, and Target: HF Honor Roll, and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll Achievement Awards.

“I am incredibly proud of all of our staff members who helped us meet the standards and guidelines for these three awards,” said LeAnn Pritchett, Southwell’s System Director of Quality and Safety. “We are honored to be recognized by this program of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, and we believe that these awards truly showcase our commitment to quality care. I know that our incredible staff has pulled together in each of these areas to make this happen, and I am so grateful to them for their hard work and dedication.”

Tift Regional Medical Center earned these awards by meeting specific quality achievements related to the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure patients, providing quality care for stroke patients by following treatment guidelines and providing education to stroke patients, and met quality measures of the “Overall Diabetes Cardiovascular Initiative Composite Score.” The Get With The Guidelines® systems were developed to assist healthcare professionals in providing the most up-to-date, research based guidelines for treating heart failure and stroke patients.

“We are pleased to recognize Tift Regional Medical Center for their commitment to heart failure care,” said Clyde W. Yancy, M.D., MSc, MACC, FAHA, MACP, FHFSA, national chairperson of the American Heart Association Heart Failure systems of care advisory group and chief, division of cardiology at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine. “Hospitals that follow Get With The Guidelines protocols often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates – a win for healthcare systems, families and communities.”

“Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines quality improvement initiative can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., national chairperson of the Quality Oversight Committee and Executive Vice Chair of Neurology, Director of Acute Stroke Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. “We are pleased to recognize Tift Regional Medical Center for their commitment to stroke care,” Schwamm said.