{"id":150558,"date":"2026-08-11T22:32:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T02:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/?p=150558"},"modified":"2026-08-11T22:32:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T02:32:35","slug":"st-lukes-earns-national-recognition-for-excellence-in-stroke-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/?p=150558","title":{"rendered":"St. Luke\u2019s Earns National Recognition for Excellence in Stroke Care"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network (SLUHN) has once again earned national recognition from the American Heart Association\/American Stroke Association for its commitment to delivering high-quality, evidence-based stroke care. Hospitals across the Network received\u00a0<strong>2026 Get With The Guidelines\u00ae-Stroke Gold Plus awards<\/strong>, along with multiple Target: Stroke, Target: Type 2 Diabetes<sup>TM<\/sup>\u00a0and Rural Stroke distinctions.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These awards reflect the extraordinary dedication of our physicians, nurses, therapists, EMS partners and support teams across the Network,&#8221; said Daniel Ackerman, MD, FAAN, Section Chief of Neurology and Director of Stroke and Vascular Neurology at St. Luke&#8217;s University Health Network. &#8220;Every day, they work together to ensure that patients experiencing a stroke receive timely, evidence-based care that gives them the best opportunity for recovery.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Highlights of the 2026 Recognition<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Nine St. Luke\u2019s hospitals earned Get With The Guidelines\u00ae-Stroke Gold Plus recognition:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>St. Luke\u2019s Allentown Campus<\/li>\n<li>St. Luke\u2019s Anderson Campus<\/li>\n<li>St. Luke\u2019s University Hospital \u2013 Bethlehem<\/li>\n<li>St. Luke\u2019s Carbon Campus<\/li>\n<li>St. Luke\u2019s Easton Campus<\/li>\n<li>St. Luke\u2019s Miners Campus<\/li>\n<li>St. Luke\u2019s Monroe Campus<\/li>\n<li>St. Luke\u2019s Upper Bucks Campus<\/li>\n<li>Geisinger St. Luke\u2019s Hospital<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>St. Luke\u2019s University Hospital in Bethlehem received the Network\u2019s highest distinction, earning Get With the Guidelines\u00ae \u2013 Stroke Gold Plus with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite, Target: Stroke Advanced Therapy and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll recognitions.<\/p>\n<p>Eight St. Luke\u2019s hospitals earned Get With the Guidelines\u00ae &#8211; Stroke Gold Plus with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll recognition:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>St. Luke\u2019s Anderson Campus<\/li>\n<li>St. Luke\u2019s Carbon Campus<\/li>\n<li>St. Luke\u2019s Grand View Campus<\/li>\n<li>St. Luke\u2019s Miners Campus<\/li>\n<li>St. Luke\u2019s Monroe Campus<\/li>\n<li>St. Luke\u2019s Upper Bucks Campus<\/li>\n<li>St. Luke\u2019s Warren Campus<\/li>\n<li>Geisinger St. Luke\u2019s Hospital<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>St. Luke\u2019s Allentown Campus and St. Luke\u2019s Easton Campus earned Get With the Guidelines\u00ae &#8211; Stroke Gold Plus with Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll recognition.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, Geisinger St. Luke\u2019s Hospital and St. Luke\u2019s Miners Campus received the Get With the Guidelines\u00ae &#8211; Rural Stroke Gold recognition, while St. Luke\u2019s Monroe Campus earned the Get With the Guidelines\u00ae Rural Stroke Bronze recognition.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These recognitions demonstrate the strength of our integrated stroke program and our commitment to providing consistent, high-quality care throughout the Network,&#8221; Dr. Ackerman said. &#8220;Whether a patient is treated at one of our larger regional centers or a community hospital, they can expect the same focus on rapid diagnosis, advanced treatment and coordinated recovery services.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>SLUHN earned these honors by meeting rigorous national standards for stroke diagnosis and treatment, including rapid intervention, adherence to evidence-based clinical guidelines and ongoing quality improvement initiatives. The awards recognize hospitals that demonstrate a sustained commitment to improving patient outcomes and reducing the long-term effects of stroke.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Stroke care is a race against time,&#8221; Dr. Ackerman said. &#8220;These awards recognize our continued investment in the people, technology and processes that allow us to deliver lifesaving care quickly and effectively.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>About St. Luke\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Founded in 1872, St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network with annual net revenue of more than $4.5 billion. With 23,000+ employees at 16 hospital campuses and 350+ outpatient sites, it is the Lehigh Valley\u2019s biggest employer.<\/p>\n<p>The Network\u2019s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital is based at the Bethlehem Campus.<\/p>\n<p>Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke\u2019s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only four-year medical school. It also operates the nation\u2019s oldest continuously operated School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 60+ fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 550+ residents and fellows. Additionally, the St. Luke\u2019s College of Health Sciences opened in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>In a 2025 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, St. Luke\u2019s achieved the highest quality score of the nation\u2019s recognized top three highest performing health systems. This objective recognition, based on public data reported to the government, reaffirms St. Luke\u2019s preeminent position as THE BEST OF THE BEST among the most respected health care systems in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>St. Luke\u2019s has been named a Leapfrog Group Top Hospital and a Newsweek World\u2019s Best Hospital. In 2026, all of the Network\u2019s eligible hospital campuses were awarded Medicare\u2019s highest ratings for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. The Network also earned straight A\u2019s for safety from Leapfrog across all of its acute care hospitals. It has earned 100 Top Hospital designations from Premier 12 years in a row, including in 2026 when the Network was identified as THE #1 MEDIUM-SIZE HEALTH SYSTEM IN THE COUNTRY. Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of SLUHN\u2019s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.<\/p>\n<p>Information provided to TVL by:<br \/>\nSam Kennedy<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network (SLUHN) has once again earned national recognition from the American Heart Association\/American Stroke Association for its commitment to delivering high-quality, evidence-based stroke care. Hospitals across the Network received\u00a02026 Get With The Guidelines\u00ae-Stroke Gold Plus awards, along with multiple Target: Stroke, Target: Type 2 DiabetesTM\u00a0and Rural Stroke distinctions. &#8220;These awards reflect &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/?p=150558\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">St. Luke\u2019s Earns National Recognition for Excellence in Stroke Care<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149767,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\r\n\r\n{excerpt}\r\n\r\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SLUHN-LOGO.jpg?fit=672%2C372&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=150558"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150559,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150558\/revisions\/150559"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/149767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=150558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=150558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=150558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}