CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital - Winnsboro Awarded for Efforts to Improve Rural Stroke Care

For efforts to optimize stroke care and eliminate rural health care outcome disparities, CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital – Winnsboro has received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke Rural Recognition Bronze award.

“We are proud that our team in Winnsboro is being recognized for the important work we do every day to improve the lives of people in our community who are affected by stroke, giving them the best possible chance of recovery and survival,” said Kala Anders, stroke program manager. “As a hospital in a rural community, we deal with characteristics such as extended interfacility transportation times. We've made it a goal to make sure any hurdles do not affect the standard of care our stroke patients receive.

People who live in rural communities live an average of three years less than urban counterparts, have a 40% higher likelihood of developing heart disease and face a 30% increased risk for stroke mortality — a gap that has grown over the past two decades.

CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital - Winnsboro is committed to changing that.

The award recognizes hospitals for their efforts toward acute stroke care excellence demonstrated by compliance to various guidelines such as timely hospital inter-facility transfer, symptom timeline and deficit assessment documentation, emergency medical services communication, brain imaging and stroke expert consultation.

“Patients and health care professionals in the Winnsboro area face unique health care challenges and opportunities,” said Karen E. Joynt Maddox, M.D., MPH, volunteer expert for the American Heart Association. “CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital – Winnsboro has furthered this important work to improve care for all Americans, regardless of where they live.”

All rural hospitals participating in Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke are eligible to receive award recognition based on a unique methodology focused on early acute stroke performance metrics.

“Rural communities deserve high quality stroke care,” Anders said. “I'm proud of our team for their commitment to stroke care excellence and this achievement.”