North Fulton Regional Hospital recently received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines Gold Performance Achievement Awards for Coronary Artery Disease (GWTG–CAD) and Heart Failure (GWTG–Heart Failure). These awards recognize the commitment of all hospital staff and physicians to treating patients with heart-related issues.

These two awards, combined with the recent Silver Performance Achievement Award for stroke (GWTG-Stroke), further solidify North Fulton Regional Hospital’s position on quality. The Roswell facility continues to be one of only two hospitals in the state of Georgia and one of only 29 in the country to have reached award status in all three of the programs the American Heart Association supports.

	CEO Joe Austin and members of the North Fulton Regional Hospital staff and Cardiology Unit accept two Gold Performance Achievement Awards from the American heart Association

Gold - Coronary Artery Disease Program

To receive gold status for the Coronary Artery Disease program, North Fulton Regional Hospital has implemented and continues to operate by a higher standard of cardiac care that effectively improves treatment of patients hospitalized with coronary artery disease.

Under the GWTG–CAD program, patients are started on aggressive risk reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, aspirin, ACE inhibitors and beta-blockers in the hospital and receive smoking cessation/weight management counseling as well as referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before they are discharged. Hospitals that receive the GWTG-CAD Gold Performance Achievement Award have demonstrated for 24 consecutive months that at least 85 percent of its eligible coronary patients (without contraindications) are discharged following the American Heart Association’s recommended treatment guidelines.

“The American Heart Association applauds North Fulton Regional Hospital for its success in implementing the appropriate evidence-based care and protocols to reduce the number of  recurrent events and deaths in cardiovascular disease patients,” said Gregg C Fonarow, M.D., National Chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and Director of Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center. “North Fulton Regional Hospital has achieved a high level of performance in terms of implementing these life-prolonging treatments.”

“North Fulton Regional Hospital is dedicated to making our cardiac unit among the best in the country, and the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines program is helping us accomplish that by making it easier for our professionals to improve the long-term outcomes of our cardiac patients,” said Joe Austin, CEO of North Fulton Regional Hospital “We are pleased to be recognized for our dedication and achievements in cardiac care.”

The American Heart Association’s GWTG–CAD program helps hospitals increase the use of and adherence to the association’s secondary prevention guidelines for coronary artery disease. Developed to assist healthcare professionals follow proven standards and procedures before patients are discharged, GWTG–CAD can help North Fulton Regional Hospital reduce the risk of recurrent heart attacks and death in treated patients. The program mobilizes teams in acute care hospitals to implement American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines.

According to the American Heart Association, approximately 565,000 people suffer a new heart attack and 300,000 experience a recurrent heart attack each year. Statistics also show that within one year of a heart attack, 18 percent of men and 23 percent of women will die. Within five years after an attack, about 33 percent of men and 43 percent of women will die.