Memorial Medical Center earns Primary Stroke Center Recertification from the Joint Commission

Send a link to a friend  Share

[September 04, 2014]  SPRINGFIELD – Memorial Medical Center earned recertification as a primary stroke center from The Joint Commission. 

“This recertification is a credit to the partnering physicians, nurses, rehabilitation therapists and the entire stroke care team, whose dedication and hard work ensure that our patients receive care that is second to none,” said Amanda Conn, coordinator of Memorial’s Stroke Center and a registered nurse.

Memorial’s stroke program provides a comprehensive continuum of care from prevention to recovery. This includes dedicated stroke response teams that provide fast diagnosis and treatment to stroke patients who arrive in Memorial’s emergency department, inpatient care and rehabilitation.

Memorial treats more than 700 stroke patients annually. The hospital first received certification in 2010 and has been recertified every other year since.

In August 2013, Memorial was one of a handful of healthcare organizations in Illinois to earn a rare fivefold accreditation for rehabilitation services from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, which included stroke inpatient specialty.

The Joint Commission’s Primary Stroke Center Certification is based on the recommendations for primary stroke centers published by the Brain Attack Coalition and the American Stroke Association’s guidelines for stroke care.

[to top of second column]

Hospitals applying for advanced certification must meet The Joint Commission’s requirements for disease-specific care certification and additional clinically specific requirements and expectations.

The Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 15,000 healthcare organizations and programs and is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in healthcare. Its Disease-Specific Care Certification Program, launched in 2002, evaluates clinical programs across the continuum of care in three core areas.

Strokes occur when blood flow to a region of the brain is obstructed, either by blockage in an artery that supplies blood to the brain or by bleeding of ruptured blood vessels in the brain. Each year about 795,000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke, the nation’s fourth leading cause of death behind heart disease, cancer and lower respiratory disease.

Memorial Medical Center, 701 N. First St., is a nonprofit, community-based hospital in the Mid-Illinois Medical District at Springfield.

[Text received; MEMORIAL HEALTH SYSTEMS]

< Recent articles

Back to top