The Medical Center at Bowling Green Receives Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award

The Medical Center at Bowling Green, flagship hospital of Med Center Health, has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

The Medical Center at Bowling Green 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 with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.

“The stroke care team at The Medical Center at Bowling Green is dedicated to constantly improving the quality of care for our patients,” said Jean Cherry, Executive Vice President of Med Center Health. “For every patient who comes to The Medical Center with a stroke, our team goes above and beyond to positively impact their outcome. We are proud to be recognized by the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association, but our greatest achievement is in saving lives and preserving the quality of life for our patients.”

The Medical Center at Bowling Green additionally received the association’s Target: Stroke℠ Elite award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.

“We are pleased to recognize The Medical Center at Bowling Green for their commitment to stroke care,” said Eric E. Smith, M.D., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and an associate professor of neurology at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. “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.”

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 and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

The Medical Center at Bowling Green Becomes Donation Site for Human Breastmilk

On Tuesday, July 24, The Medical Center at Bowling Green, flagship hospital of Med Center Health, held a grand opening to celebrate becoming a “milk depot” for The Milk Bank.

The Milk Bank is a nonprofit organization that promotes community health by expanding the safe use of human milk for all babies, especially premature and ill infants. The Medical Center will act as a donation site to accept milk from lactating women with infants who are less than two years old. As one of only six milk depots in Kentucky, The Medical Center will ensure the safe handling, storage and transport of donated human milk. Headquartered in Indianapolis, The Milk Bank also has depots in Indiana, Illinois and Missouri.

“We are so excited to become a Milk Depot location for The Milk Bank,” said Caitlin Burklow, Director of Women and Newborn Services at The Medical Center. “We have enjoyed a longstanding relationship with the Milk Bank as the only Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in the area and have seen firsthand the wonderful benefits of donor milk for our patients. I know the breastfeeding mothers in our area will be excited to have a convenient way to drop off milk that can potentially impact the life of a premature or ill infant.”

Area donors who have been approved will be able to drop off their excess breastmilk at The Medical Center. From there, the milk will be sent to The Milk Bank where it is bottled, pasteurized and tested for sterility by an independent lab. Once checked for safety, it is sent to ordering hospitals or outpatients with physician prescriptions.

To learn more about becoming a breastmilk donor, call The Medical Center at Bowling Green Lactation Department at 270-796-2108. For more information about Women’s Health Services at The Medical Center, visit TheMedicalCenter.org.