Newswise — Northwest Hospital in Randallstown, Maryland, has earned a Silver Plus Performance Achievement Award from The American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association.

To receive this recognition, hospitals must comply for 12 months or longer with quality measures identified in the associations’ Get With The Guidelines Stroke program, which shares information designed to lower the number of deaths and to improve the lives of stroke patients.

“This is a great honor for Northwest Hospital and our staff. It reinforces to our patients the level of skill that our professionals provide,” says. Gurdeep Singh Ahluwalia, M.D., a neurologist at Northwest Hospital “Additionally, the data from this program allows us to have the latest facts and statistics at our fingertips so we can provide exemplary care each day." Ahluwalia leads the team of medical experts that enables the hospital to provide 24/7 emergency stroke care.

The Get With The Guidelines Stroke program gives clinicians patient-specific criteria and access to the American Heart Association’s Patient Management Tool (PMT), an online, interactive assessment and reporting system. By using the PMT, hospitals can track their performances and pinpoint areas for improvement. Strokes are the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of long-term disabilities in the United States.

Northwest Hospital is also a designated Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems’ Primary Stroke Center.

Northwest Hospital is part of LifeBridge Health, one of the largest, most comprehensive providers of health services in northwest Baltimore. LifeBridge Health also includes Sinai Hospital, Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital, Courtland Gardens Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, and related subsidiaries and affiliates.