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News Release

August 11, 2010

Contact: Carolyn Pennington, 860-679-4864
e-mail: cpennington@uchc.edu

Calhoun Cardiology Center Recognized for Implementing Quality Heart Disease and Stroke Care

FARMINGTON, CONN. – The Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center has received the Get With The Guidelines® Silver Performance Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. The recognition signifies that the Health Center has reached an aggressive goal of treating heart failure patients for at least 12 consecutive months with 85 percent compliance to core standard levels of care outlined by the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines for heart failure patients.

Get With The Guidelines is a quality improvement initiative that provides hospital staff with tools that follow proven evidence-based guidelines and procedures in caring for heart failure patients to prevent future hospitalizations. According to Get With The Guidelines–Heart Failure treatment guidelines, heart failure patients are started on aggressive risk reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, aspirin, diuretics, and anticoagulants in the hospital. They also receive alcohol/drug use and thyroid management counseling as well as referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before being discharged.

According to the American Heart Association, about 5.7 million people suffer from heart failure. Statistics also show each year more than 292,200 people will die of heart failure.

"The Calhoun Cardiology Center is dedicated to making our care for heart failure patients among the best in the country, and implementing the Get With The Guidelines measures will help us accomplish this by making it easier for our professionals to improve the long-term outcome for these patients," says cardiologist Jason Ryan.

Photo: http://today.uchc.edu/images/news/cardiacaward.jpg
Caption: The American Heart Association’s Amanda McCulley (fourth from right), presents the Get With The Guidelines Silver Performance Achievement Award to Calhoun Cardiology Center’s (left to right) Marybeth Barry, Wendy Martinson, Dr. Patrick Campbell, Dr. Jason Ryan. Linda York, Linda Mickelson, Dr. Bruce Liang. 

UConn Health includes the schools of medicine and dental medicine, the UConn Medical Group, University Dentists, and John Dempsey Hospital. Home to Bioscience Connecticut, UConn Health pursues a mission of providing outstanding health care education in an environment of exemplary patient care, research and public service. More information about UConn Health is available at www.uchc.edu.

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