The distinction was recently listed in U.S. News & World Report

LANSING, Mich. - The quality of stroke care at Sparrow is nothing short of golden, according to a recent award recognizing the mid-Michigan providers excellence.

Sparrow has earned the Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award in Stroke from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association, and was listed as a recipient in the July edition of U.S. News & World Report.

The care we provide is world-class as acknowledged by this award, said Dr. Syed Hussain, M.D., Sparrow Medical Director of Stroke Services.

The award recognizes hospitals that follow the AHA/ASAs guidelines for treating stroke patients more than 80 percent of the time over a period of 24 months. Sparrow exceeded that by achieving the goals 90 percent of the time or more.

Sparrows Emergency Department is the only one in the region accredited as a Primary Stroke Center by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and was recognized for its quality of stroke care earlier this year at the International Stroke Conference in Los Angeles. Sparrow also has been recognized for its quick use of a clot-busting drug, or tissue plasmiogen activator (tPA), in a statewide clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.

Sparrows dedicated team of specialists use state-of-the-art techniques such as a corkscrew-type device that winds through arteries up to the brain to pull out a clot and save brain function. Sparrow Hospital features the regions first comprehensive stroke treatment unit dedicated to ensuring stroke victims get fast care from a team of expert physicians at Sparrow, Michigan State University, and from independent practices in the Lansing area, including Lansing Neurosurgery. That includes specially trained neurologists, a neurointerventionalist, neurosurgeons, and a multi-disciplinary team.

Fast action and the use of drugs like tPa improves a stroke patients chances of survival. Sparrows stroke program is ranked in the top 5 percent of all hospitals nationally in quality measures that include door to needle time.