Left to right: Kevin A. Roberts, GAMC President/CEO; Karen Brandt, GAMC Vice
President/CNO; and Michelle Jocson, GAMC stroke program manager, accept the
Get with the Guidelines®–Stroke Plus and Target Stroke award from representatives
of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.
Helping you sleep better
D
id you know that how much and how well you sleep has a
profound impact on your health? Studies have shown that
sleep apnea, a common sleep disorder, can contribute to
a rise in heart disease, heart attack, diabetes and obesity.
Additionally, sleep deprivation can have an effect on your
mood, your weight, and even relationships and intimacy.
Many Americans don’t get enough sleep at night simply due to
how busy our lives are. However, if your sleep problems are caused
by a medical condition, the Sleep Disorders Center at Glendale Ad-
ventist Medical Center is here to help!
This year, our Sleep Disorders Center celebrates years of help-
ing our community get a better night’s sleep. That’s a lot of years of
expertise under our belts! Our center is equipped to help diagnose
and treat a number of sleep disorders, from sleep apnea to insomnia
and narcolepsy. We even offer home sleep studies, which can be done
from the comfort of your own bed.
Additionally, our center is one of only a handful in Southern Cali-
fornia to be accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
Glendale Adventist Medical Center
(GAMC) has received the Get With The
Guidelines®–Stroke Gold-Plus Quality
Achievement Award for implementing
specific quality improvement
measures outlined by the
American Heart Association/
American Stroke Association
for the treatment of stroke
patients.
Get WithThe Guidelines®–
Stroke helps hospital teams
provide the most up-to-date
guidelines with the goal of
speeding recovery and reducing disability
for stroke patients.
GAMC also received the association’s
“This is a great external validation for
our hospital,” says Marion Watson, direc-
tor of the Neuroscience Institute at GAMC.
“This award demonstrates our commitment
to ensure that our patients receive care
based on internationally respected clinical
guidelines. It also shows that our clinical ini-
tiatives, safety protocols and best practices
really do have a significant positive impact
on patient outcomes. The success lies in
our team of physicians and employees, who
consistently provide high-quality, compas-
sionate care, with a focus on patient safety.”
“We are pleased to recognize Glendale
Adventist Medical Center for their com-
mitment and dedication to stroke care,”
says Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, national
chairman of the Get With The Guidelines®
steering committee and executive director
of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs
at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and
professor of medicine at Harvard Medical
School. “Studies have shown that hospitals
that consistently followGetWithThe Guide-
lines® quality improvement measures can
reduce patients’ length of stays and 30-day
readmission rates and reduce gaps in care.”
Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke also
helps GAMC staff implement preven-
tion measures, which include educating
patients to be aware of warning signs for
stroke and ensuring they take medications
properly. Hospitals can make customized
patient education materials available upon
discharge, based on the patient’s individual
risk profiles.
To learn more about stroke treatment
at GAMC, visit
GlendaleAdventist.com/
Neuro
.
Glendale Adventist wins
national stroke award
To learn more about the Sleep Disorders Center at GAMC, visit GlendaleAdventist.com/Sleep.
For questions or to schedule a sleep test, call (818) 409-8323.
It’s not only an apple a day that can keep
the doctor away. Fluffy and Fido can prob-
ably do that too.
Pets may do far more for their owners
than fetching the paper, scaring off intrud-
ers or returning love. Having a pet might
actually reduce your risk of potentially
serious health problems like heart disease.
According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, a pet at your side
can help lower both your blood pressure
and your cholesterol—two major risk fac-
tors for heart disease.
What’s more, if you already have heart
disease, four-legged friends appear to re-
duce your risk of dying from it.
Consider the results of a study funded
by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
that tracked 41 adults who had heart at-
tacks. A year after those attacks, dog own-
ers were much more likely to be alive than
those without dogs, no matter how severe
the heart attack.
Dogs in particular may protect against
heart disease because their owners tend to
exercise more—which reduces risk—than
people without dogs. Dog owners are also
more likely to meet recommended exercise
guidelines.
So the next time your dog pesters you
for a walk, grab the leash—and consider
yourself lucky.
NICE TO MEET YOU
Man’s best friend may
also help you make more human friends,
the NIH reports.
Research reveals that walking dogs
tends to spark conversations and helps
us stay socially connected—a real plus. In
general, the more social relationships we
have, the longer we live—and the less likely
we are to decline mentally or physically.
Pet pals can
have a positive
effect onhealth
Target: Stroke Honor Roll for meeting stroke
quality measures that reduce the time be-
tween hospital arrival and treatment with
the clot-buster TPA. Stroke patients who
receive the drug within three
hours of the onset of symptoms
may recover quicker and are less
likely to suffer severe disability.
ONLY THE BEST
“We are dedi-
cated to improving the quality
of stroke care, and the American
Heart Association/American
Stroke Association’s Get With
The Guidelines®–Stroke helps us achieve
that goal,” says Lance Lee, MD, medical
director of the Neuroscience Institute.
Glendale Adventist Sleep Disorders Center staff
N E W S , V I E W S & T I P S
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