hospital headlines
Once again, San Joaquin Community
Hospital (SJCH) was the site of health
care achievement awards, and we’ve
also announced a new community
partnership.
The Stroke Center at SJCH received
the Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke
Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award
for implementing specific quality
improvement measures outlined by the
American Heart Association (AHA) and
American Stroke Association (ASA) for
the treatment of stroke patients.
SJCH also received the associations’
Target: Stroke Honor Roll for meeting
stroke quality measures that reduce
the time between hospital arrival and
treatment with the clot-buster TPA—
the only drug approved by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration to treat
ischemic stroke. People who have a
stroke and receive the drug within three
hours of the onset of symptoms may
recover more quickly and are less likely
to suffer severe disability.
SJCH and the AHA and ASA an-
nounced a new, exclusive community
partnership called “Together to End
Stroke.” The new campaign will aim to
educate the community that strokes
are preventable, beatable and treatable.
People will learn about the symptoms
of a stroke, how to prevent them from
happening and how to decrease their
risks.
Excellence in stroke care
San Joaquin Community Hospital (SJCH) hosted a special
ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the Sexual Assault
Response Team (SART) office now located on the hospi-
tal campus. Although a happy occasion to announce the
opening, the critical need for this program—a collaboration
among SJCH, Forensic Nurse Specialists of Central CA, Inc.,
and the Kern County district attorney’s office—is sobering.
SART provides victims of sexual assault, domestic violence
and crimes against children in Kern County with access to an
experienced forensic nurse, who is on-call 24/7 to conduct
evidence-gathering exams. When the rooms opened April 1,
it wasn’t long before the first patient arrived.
With the help of the district attorney’s office, the center
helps victims receive justice—something that resonated with
SJCH representatives.
“Less than 60 percent of victims actually come forward,
and so those that do have the courage to come forward also
are ensured that justice can happen,” said SJCH President and
CEO Doug Duffield.
A vital resource for victims of abuse
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Health Matters •
