Nationwide, close to 700,000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke. On average, someone suffers a stroke about every 45 seconds and someone dies of a stroke every 3.1 minutes.

Strokes are the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the U.S, with approximately 4.7 million stroke survivors alive today. Timeliness of treatment is of primary importance in determining outcomes for stroke patients.

“The saying is, time is brain,” says Dr. David Likosky, Director of Evergreen Healthcare’s Primary Stroke Program. “If a person who has had a stroke seeks help immediately, the range of treatment options available will be greater. As time passes, this range gets smaller and can have a serious impact on outcomes.”

Dr. Likosky is proud that Evergreen’s program strives for a high level of care, as well as works to ensure timeliness of care for its stroke patients.

Recently, the center earned the Gold Seal of Approval from The Joint Commission as a Primary Stroke Center, a distinction that has been awarded to only 10 percent of hospitals in the country.

“Evergreen Healthcare demonstrated that its stroke care program follows national standards and guidelines that can significantly improve outcomes for stroke patients,” says Jean E. Range, executive director, Disease-Specific Care Certification, Joint Commission.

For Evergreen, this seal of approval means that its program meets the highest standards based on strict criteria. “It’s a notable achievement for us,” adds Dr. Likosky. “We now have the ability to provide cutting edge treatment for a disease that a few years ago we couldn’t do much for. Now the field is rapidly developing and we are able to treat, and have exceptionally positive outcomes for patients who would have become very disabled or possibly even died.”

To achieve accreditation, Evergreen’s program was evaluated for creating an organized comprehensive approach to performance improvement, utilizing comparative data to evaluate program processes and patient outcomes, evaluating participants’ perception of quality of care and maintaining data quality and integrity

The hospital started on the path to accreditation in 2006 when an anonymous donor gave funds to start the stroke program.

“We had pieces of the program in place for many years,” explains Dr. Likosky, “but now we’ve been able to bring them together. It’s a process that takes time, as it involves coordinating a number of different systems throughout the hospital, as well as within the community. And it definitely requires a large commitment on the part of the staff and the administration.”

According to Dr. Likosky, Evergreen serves, on average, one stroke patient at day. He notes that this number will most likely increase as the area’s demographics (in particular, age of residents) change. But, he also mentions that the ability to prevent strokes has greatly improved in recent years.

“High blood pressure is the number one cause of strokes,” he adds. “Doctors are controlling this better and patients are more aware of the risk factors and the symptoms.”

For Dr. Likosky, it is essential that Evergreen continue to keep pace with the rapidly changing field of stroke medicine. The hospital must stay atop of the current research to ensure that its patients are receiving the very best treatment available.

“Here at Evergreen, we can see marked differences in people’s lives because we are able to change their outcomes,” says Likosky. This is a direct result of the treatment options and the speed of access to available care. But, there will always be room for improvement in any program and we must continue to look at ways to make ours even better.”