The American Heart and Stroke Association (AHA) has awarded Frye Regional Medical Center four quality awards recognizing the hospital’s Heart and Stroke Center.

Frye is a 2018 recipient of the:

• Mission Lifeline STEMI Receiving Gold Plus and Silver NSTEMI Achievement Awards
• American Heart Association Get With the Guidelines Heart Failure – Gold Plus and Target Honor Roll Award
• American Heart Association Get With the Guidelines -- Stroke Gold Plus and Target Honor Roll Award

“We focus on the initiatives and metrics that the American Heart and Stroke Association Get With the Guidelines uses as we analyze the care patients at Frye receive,” said Lisa Meosky, Frye Regional Director of Quality. “The metrics that AHA uses are evidence-based and research-based and provide the best approach for a positive outcome. Our physicians, nurses and other providers work to achieve these standards with each patient.

“A lot of team work goes into achieving these awards and honor roll recognitions,” said Meoksy. “It begins with our EMS providers and our Emergency Department, and includes a number of inpatient units including Telemetry, CVICU, Cath Lab, Intermediate Care, Neuro Progressive, NEON, Neuro Intensive Care, and support services including Radiology and Laboratory Services. Being able to achieve, and sustain, such significant awards from the American Heart Association reflects the dedication and teamwork from all these areas.”

Frye has received numerous recognitions in previous years from AHA’s quality awards, including:

• Get with the Guidelines Heart Failure (2009-2018)
• Get with the Guidelines Stroke (2009-2018)
• Mission Lifeline STEMI Receiving (2010-2018)

“We are pleased to recognize Frye Regional for their ongoing commitment to heart and 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.”

About Frye’s Mission Lifeline STEMI Receiving Gold Plus and Silver NSTEMI Achievement Awards

Frye maintained its Mission Lifeline STEMI Receiving Gold Plus award and elevated its NSTEMI award to Silver. A STEMI is an ST-elevation myocardial infarction caused by a complete blockage of a heart artery; a non-STEMI is caused by a severely narrowed artery but the artery is not usually completely blocked. For STEMI patients, an immediate intervention or heart catheterization is required, for NSTEMI patients, the procedure isn’t always emergent. As part of its comprehensive heart center, Frye has a STEMI team that is on call 24/7 to respond to patients who arrive at our facility who are having an ST-elevation.

How Frye Achieved Gold Plus STEMI and Silver NSTEMI Award

“To achieve the best possible care for heart attack (STEMI) patients, Frye partners with our local EMS agencies to make sure we are working together as a team to take care of patients from the time they are picked up for emergency transport until we are able to open the vessel up in one of our heart catheterization labs,” said April Traxler, RN, and Race Coordinator. “We have a monthly meeting with EMS leaders from Catawba, Caldwell, Burke, Alexander and Lincoln counties to coordinate our care. Together, we’ve been able to maintain our excellent response times and we continue to make strides to improve each day.”

About Frye’s AHA Get With the Guidelines Heart Failure – Gold Plus Target Award

Frye maintained its Gold Plus in Heart Failure and in 2018 also received the Target Honor Roll Elite, based on a new program that offers heart failure patients education during their duration of their hospital stay and includes follow-up with a nurse navigator after they leave the hospital.

How Frye Achieved Gold Plus Heart Failure Award

“To get to where we are now, our physicians and nurses had to focus on a number of different things, including providing medication that gives heart failure patients the best possible outcome, integrating the follow-up between the Heart Failure clinic, cardiology physician practices and primary care, making sure patients stay up-to-date with vaccines, providing appropriate education and counseling while the patient is in the hospital and providing follow-up with a nurse navigator within 72 hours of discharge from the hospital,” said Jessica Bumgarner, RN, Heart Failure Nurse Navigator.

About Frye’s AHA Get With the Guidelines -- Stroke Gold Plus Target Honor Roll Award

Frye maintained its Gold Plus in Stroke Care in 2018 and was part of the Target Stroke Honor Roll despite increasing patient volumes and more demand for services.

How Frye Achieved Gold Plus Stroke and Target Honor Roll

“We live in the Stroke Belt, and we saw a significant increase in our stroke patient volume this past year,” said Stroke Care Coordinator and Nurse Director Whitney Cooke. “It’s even more critical that our team works closely together to manage the additional patient volume.

“For stroke patients we have a series of measures from the time the patient is transported to the Emergency Department through their discharge from the hospital and a team that works closely together to make sure we are appropriately caring for our patients who may be having a stroke.

“When caring for a stroke patient, our team realizes that time is of the essence to save lives, optimize recovery and minimize long-term disability. We constantly measure and monitor how we deliver stroke care, whether it’s providing a clot-busting drug for an ischemic stroke patient to making sure the appropriate level of therapy and education is being provided on an inpatient basis during recovery from a stroke.”