Cottage Health Earns Advanced Certification for Comprehensive Stroke Centers
You Only Have a Few Seconds
A stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain is blocked or bursts. Without blood and the oxygen it carries, part of the brain starts to die. Brain damage can begin within minutes.
Act F.A.S.T.
Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Heart-Check mark for Advanced Certification for Comprehensive Stroke Centers.
The Gold Seal of Approval® and the Heart-Check mark represent symbols of quality, and with this certification Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital joins an elite group of health care organizations focused on highly-specialized stroke care.
To be eligible, hospitals must demonstrate compliance with stroke-related standards as a Primary Stroke Center and meet additional requirements, including those related to advanced imaging, availability of specialized treatments at all times, and staff education and competencies to care for complex stroke patients.
Advanced Certification for Comprehensive Stroke Centers is awarded for a two-year period to Joint Commission-accredited acute care hospitals. An independent, nonprofit organization, The Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 21,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States.
“Earning the advanced certification for comprehensive stroke has been a top goal at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital for several years. The skill, compassion and hard work of our physicians, nurses, technologists and staff have made this possible,” said Ron Werft, President and CEO of Cottage Health. “I would like to extend a special thanks to Dr. Philip Delio, Medical Director and Chief of Staff for Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, for his commitment and leadership in this endeavor.”
Stroke is the number five cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States, according to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every four minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.
