Hudson-based Columbia Memorial Health announced June 12 it has received the national Gold-Plus Award for stroke care. The award is presented by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association and recognizes the hospital's commitment to fast, high quality care of stroke patients. Columbia Memorial earned the recognition by meeting specific standards for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients, which include "...the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments aligned with the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines proven to speed recovery and reduce death and disability for stroke patients," according to a statement released by William VanSlyke, CMH Marketing and External Affairs executive. CMH also received the Target Stroke Honor Roll award for the hospital's work to reduce the time between a patient's arrival at the hospital and the provision of treatment using the clot-buster drug, tPA. According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year. Read the full press release at the ColumbiaMemorialHealth [dot] org.