St. Mary’s Health Care System has received the Hospital Star Award from the Georgia Coverdell Acute Stroke Registry (GCASR) for leadership in improving stroke care in St. Mary’s service area and across the state. 

The Coverdell Star Awards recognize individuals and facilities “that have changed and continue to change stroke care in the state of Georgia,” according to the GCASR. “The awards are in appreciation for the mentoring, support, and passion that our Coverdell hospitals and staff provide to the registry.” 

GCASR is a program funded by the Centers for Disease Control that works to improve the quality of stroke care in Georgia and the Southeast. It works by developing and sharing information and best practices among member hospitals, emergency medical services, and other affiliated organizations. It is named in honor of the late Paul C. Coverdell, a U.S. senator from Georgia who died from a massive stroke in 2000. 

In awarding the 2015 Star Award to St. Mary’s, the Coverdell registry writes, “St. Mary’s in Athens is a community hospital that has always been a beacon in the night. They became a certified Joint Commission Primary Stroke Center in 2004 and the first in the state to sponsor a Remote Stroke Treatment Center (St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital in Greensboro).” 

GCASR goes on to praise St. Mary’s and neurologists C. Van Morris, MD, and H. McCord Smith, MD, for developing, in 2009, the region’s first neurohospitalist program. These physicians also championed adding telestroke services to St. Mary’s and Good Samaritan Hospital to further enhance emergency stroke care. The Georgia Regents University REACH system makes expert neurological consultations available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. 

St. Mary’s, GCASR says, “demonstrates their commitment to quality as a Gold Plus, Target Stroke Honor Roll facility and offers the full continuum of care with acute rehab and palliative care services. They are noted for their exceptional relationship with their community EMS partners and the education they have done with ASLS (Advance Stroke Life Support) across the state. 

“St. Mary’s has brought national speakers and experts to Georgia to share the latest and greatest best practices with the stroke community. They have presented their best practices at ISC (International Stroke Conference) and collaborate closely with the Marcus Stroke & Neuroscience Center at Grady Memorial Hospital to assure that their patients are offered the most up-to-date interventional services. 

“They are a role model for other hospitals in Georgia and across the country in how to provide the best care for patients utilizing the resources they have at hand. The hospital has set a precedent for the rest of Georgia encouraging other hospitals to take their lead. St. Mary’s definitely deserves the Hospital Star Award from Coverdell.”