Central Carolina Hospital has received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines^® - Stroke Rural Recognition Gold Award in recognition of its ongoing efforts to eliminate rural healthcare outcome disparities and optimize stroke care.

This is the third consecutive year of recognition of CCH as a rural stroke recognition award winner. The hospital received the Association’s Bronze Award in 2023 and Silver Award in 2024.

“Patients and healthcare professionals in Lee County face unique healthcare challenges and opportunities,” said Karen E. Joynt Maddox, MD, MPH, co-author on the American Heart Association’s presidential advisory on rural health. “Central Carolina Hospital has furthered this important work to improve care for all Americans, regardless of where they live.”

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

“Central Carolina Hospital is committed to changing that,” said Dave Santoemma, CEO of CCH. “As a hospital in a rural community, we have made it our goal to make sure that we provide a high standard of care for stroke patients, regardless of rural challenges and barriers to access care.”

As the world’s leading nonprofit organization focused on heart and brain health for all, the AHA recognizes the importance of healthcare services provided to people living in rural areas by rural hospitals that play a vital role in initiation of timely evidence-based care.

Rural hospitals participating in Get With The Guidelines – Stroke program are eligible for recognition based on a unique methodology focused on early acute stroke performance metrics. The awards recognize hospitals for efforts toward achieving acute stroke care excellence, demonstrated by composite-score compliance on guideline-directed care for:

• Intravenous thrombolytic therapy
• Timely hospital inter-facility transfer
• Dysphagia screening
• Symptom timeline and deficit assessment documentation
• Emergency medical services communication
• Brain imaging and stroke expert consultation
  

“Rural communities deserve high quality stroke care,” said Connette Gill, MSN, RN, Chief Nursing Officer at CCH. “I'm proud of our team for their commitment to stroke care excellence and this achievement.”