UCI Health receives 2021 Gold Award for quality stroke care
October 07, 2021
UCI Health Comprehensive Stroke and Cerebrovascular Center has received the 2021 Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus with Honor Roll Elite Plus and Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. This award recognizes the academic healthcare system’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the highest standard of stroke care according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.
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 U.S. 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. There are as many as 8,000 new cases each year in Orange County.
“This award highlights the dedication and commitment of our multidisciplinary stroke team,” said Dr. Wen Yu, director of the UCI Health Comprehensive Stroke and Cerebrovascular Center. “We not only provide comprehensive and quality stroke care, but we are also continuously searching for new therapies to advance stroke treatment and recovery.”
Longstanding leader in stroke care
UCI Health has long been a leader in stroke care and has held Primary Stroke Center certification from the Joint Commission since 2004 and was among the nation’s first academic medical facilities to be designated a primary stroke center.
UCI Health also was instrumental in creating the Orange County Stroke-Neurology Receiving System in 2009. Paramedics and ambulances now deliver patients with symptoms of a stroke to one of the handful of Orange County hospitals that are best equipped to provide around-the-clock, state-of-the-art stroke care, including UCI Medical Center in Orange.
In 2013, UCI Medical Center was the first Orange County hospital designated as a Comprehensive Stroke Center by the Joint Commission. This designation is reserved for hospitals capable of receiving and treating the most complex stroke cases and confirms the hospital meets the highest level of stroke care certification for the treatment of patients suffering ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes, and transient ischemic attacks.
Learn more about stroke care from UCI Health:
About Get With The Guidelines®
Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with tools and resources to increase adherence to the latest research-based guidelines.
UCI Health is the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine, and the only academic health system in Orange County. Patients can access UCI Health at primary and specialty care offices across Orange County and at its main campus, UCI Medical Center in Orange, Calif. The 459-bed, acute care hospital, listed among America’s Best Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report for 21 consecutive years, provides tertiary and quaternary care, ambulatory and specialty medical clinics, behavioral health and rehabilitation services. UCI Medical Center is home to Orange County’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal/neonatal program and American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center and regional burn center. UCI Health serves a region of nearly 4 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.
