The award recognizes South Nassau’s commitment and success to ensuring that stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines.

1. For Immediate Release June 11, 2015
Contact: Damian Becker, Manager of Media Relations
(516) 377-5370
South Nassau is Among the Elite at Treating Stroke
Oceanside, NY – South Nassau Communities was awarded the American Heart
Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®–Target: Stroke Honor
Roll-Elite Quality Achievement Award at the association’s International Stroke Conference 2015.
The award recognizes South Nassau’s commitment and success to ensuring that stroke
patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-
based guidelines.
“This award demonstrates our steadfast commitment to ensuring patients receive care
based on nationally-respected clinical guidelines,” said Joshua Kugler, MD, chair of the
Emergency Services Department at South Nassau.
“South Nassau is keenly focused on raising our standards of care and service by practicing
and perfecting clinical guidelines, which is essential to fulfilling our mission to meet the patients’
and communities’ needs for quality, patient-centered healthcare services,” added Richard J.
Murphy, South Nassau’s president and CEO.
To receive the Target: Stroke Honor Roll-Elite award, South Nassau fulfilled quality
measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment
with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke. If given intravenously in the first three
hours after the start of stroke symptoms, tPA has been shown to significantly reduce the effects of
stroke and lessen the chance of permanent disability. Over twelve months, at least 75 percent of
the hospital’s ischemic stroke patients have received tPA within 60 minutes of arriving at the
hospital (known as door-to-needle time).
The tPA therapy is not an option for patients with hemorrhagic stroke (which is when a
blood vessel in the brain leaks or bursts) or who have: bleeding ulcer, blood clotting problems,
brain cancer, extremely high blood pressure or prior bleeding problems.
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2. The quality measures are designed to help hospital teams provide the most up-to-date,
evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for
stroke patients. South Nassau has also met specific scientific guidelines as a Primary Stroke
Center, featuring a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients
admitted to its emergency department.
A study appearing in the April 23-30, 2014, issue of Journal of the American Medical
Association examining the results of “Target: Stroke” found that implementation of the quality
initiative was associated with improvement in the time to treatment and a lower risk of in-hospital
death, intracranial hemorrhage (bleeding in the brain), and an increase in the portion of patients
discharged to their home. Coordinated by Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D., of the University of
California, Los Angeles, and based on the outcomes of more than 71,000 patients, the study’s
findings further reinforced the importance and clinical benefits of more rapid administration of
intravenous tPA.
According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the
fourth-leading cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of serious, long-term
disability. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 45 seconds; someone dies of a stroke
every three minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year. All of the
major symptoms of stroke appear suddenly and without warning and they are often not painful.
The most common symptoms of stroke can be remembered by the acronym FAST:
F = Face: Is one side of the face drooping down?
A = Arm: Can the person raise both arms, or is one arm weak?
S = Speech: Is speech slurred or confusing?
T = Time: Time is critical! Call 9-1-1 immediately!
Other less common symptoms of stroke are sudden trouble seeing, sudden dizziness, and
generalized weakness. If you or someone you are with is experiencing some or any of these
symptoms, call 9-1-1 immediately.
South Nassau’s Emergency Services Department is designated a regional Stroke Center
by the New York State Department of Health, and has also been awarded the Get With The
Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award the past three years. Including highly
skilled, board-certified physicians with expertise in treating stroke, the department provides:
• Rapid assessment of patients with stroke symptoms
• On-site new generation CT scanner that minimizes radiation exposure
• Prompt treatment using advanced therapies and procedures
• Comprehensive neurological and neurosurgical care throughout hospitalization
• Nurses with special training in stroke care
• Stroke support group

3. • Community education
As southern Nassau’s only Trauma Level II Center, the emergency department has more
than 35 large independent treatment bays and specialty areas, including Pediatrics and Behavioral
Health, as well as its own dedicated Computerized Radiology Suite for rapid access for testing
and results.
South Nassau is the only hospital on Long Island to win four major awards or recognition
for quality in recent months, including for nursing excellence, women’s programs and top
rankings from U.S. News & World Report and from the Joint Commission.
Designated a Magnet® hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC),
South Nassau® Communities Hospital is one of the region’s largest hospitals, with 455 beds,
more than 900 physicians and 3,000 employees. Located in Oceanside, NY, the hospital is an
acute-care, not-for-profit teaching hospital that provides state-of-the-art care in cardiac,
oncologic, orthopedic, bariatric, pain management, mental health and emergency services. In
addition to its extensive outpatient specialty centers, South Nassau provides emergency and
elective angioplasty, and is the only hospital on Long Island with the Novalis Tx™ and Gamma
Knife® radiosurgery technologies. South Nassau is a designated Stroke Center by the New York
State Department of Health and Comprehensive Community Cancer Center by the American
College of Surgeons and is an accredited center of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery
Association and Quality Improvement Program. In addition, the hospital has been awarded the
Joint Commission’s gold seal of approval as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures, including
heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care; and disease-specific care for hip and joint
replacement, wound care and end-stage renal disease. For more information, visit
www.southnassau.org.
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