Wright Memorial Hospital Awarded Multiple Designations for Stroke and Heart Attack

Trenton, Mo. - Wright Memorial Hospital has recently received multiple designations relating to the high level of care provided for strokes and heart attacks.

Wright Memorial earned The Joint Commission’s Acute Heart Attack Ready Certification and The Joint Commission’s Acute Stroke Ready Certification.

Wright Memorial underwent a rigorous, onsite review to earn these certifications. During the visit, reviewers from The Joint Commission evaluated compliance with related certification standards. The Joint Commission standards are developed in consultation with health care experts and providers, measurement experts, and patients. The reviewers also conducted onsite observations and interviews.

Additionally, for efforts to optimize stroke care and eliminate rural health care outcome disparities, Wright Memorial Hospital has received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke Rural Recognition Bronze award.

The award recognizes hospitals for their efforts toward acute stroke care excellence demonstrated by composite score compliance to guideline-directed care for intravenous thrombolytic therapy, timely hospital inter-facility transfer, dysphagia screening, symptom timeline and deficit assessment documentation, emergency medical services communication, brain imaging, and stroke expert consultation.

Also, with the recent certifications from The Joint Commission, Wright Memorial was designated by the State of Missouri as a Level III Stroke Center and a Level III STEMI Center.

The Time Critical Diagnosis (TCD) system, which implements the stroke and STEMI levels of hospital designation across the state, was created in 2013 through the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. It’s a statewide emergency medical care response system aimed at providing faster response and quality care when a time-critical emergency happens. The goal is to create consistent, statewide rules and regulations to help emergency and hospital personnel ensure patients are transported and treated by the most appropriate facility for their conditions. 

“We are incredibly honored to receive these stroke and STEMI designations,” said Steve Schieber, CEO of Wright Memorial Hospital. “But even more so, I’m incredibly proud of the hard work our staff has put in providing excellent care and ensuring that our standard of care is exceeding certain benchmarks put in place by The Joint Commission, the American Heart Association, the American Stroke Association, and the State of Missouri’s Health and Senior Services department. These designations validate our ongoing commitment to providing exceptional emergency care to our community.”

Wright Memorial Hospital is a member of Saint Luke’s Health System, which consists of 14 area hospitals and several primary and specialty care practices, and provides a range of inpatient, outpatient, and home care services. Founded as a faith-based, not-for-profit organization, our mission includes a commitment to the highest levels of excellence in health care and the advancement of medical research and education. The health system is an aligned organization in which the physicians and hospitals assume responsibility for enhancing the physical, mental, and spiritual health of people in the metropolitan Kansas City area and the surrounding region.