Cuomo: Feds award New York $3.75M grant for stroke treatment and prevention

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded New York State a five-year, $3.75 million grant to “enhance” the treatment and prevention of stroke.

Stroke remains the fourth leading cause of death in New York, accounting for more than 6,000 deaths annually, the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a news release issued on Monday.

The grant will allow the New York State Department of Health to expand upon its existing New York Coverdell program.

The department created the program in 2012 through another federal grant to improve in-hospital care for acute stroke, according to Cuomo’s office.

The funding will help grow the program’s components on community education, emergency-medical services, and transitions of care.

It will also help address stroke-risk factors such as high blood pressure, tobacco use, high cholesterol, and poor medication adherence.

Additionally, the state Health Department will use the funding to help “identify and address” gaps in care between the transition from ambulance to hospital, and then from hospital to home.

New York’s goal is to find ways of “reducing mortality, readmission and disabilities resulting from stroke,” Cuomo’s office said.

“Stroke continues to be a major cause of death and disability in New York, but advances in treatment have started to make an impact on survival and recovery,” Cuomo said in the news release. “This funding will continue those efforts and incorporate more life-saving preventive measures into our health care system.”

The funding will address a “leading” cause of disability and suffering in New York, Dr. Howard Zucker, New York State Health Commissioner, said in the news release.

“Many strokes, as well as their negative outcomes, are preventable, if the right care is applied in a timely fashion. This funding will help us achieve that,” said Zucker.

New York was one of nine states to receive funds from the Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Program for a state program

A five-year project is underway that will “ultimately” establish systems of care for stroke within five regions of the state.

Since 2012, the program has made “significant” improvements in elements of hospital care for acute stroke.

The improvements include an increase in the “timely” delivery of tissue plasminogen activator from 41.3 percent to 61.3 percent.

Tissue plasminogen activator is the only stroke treatment that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration has approved, Cuomo’s office said.

Congress in 2001 directed the CDC to implement state-based registries to measure and track acute stroke care to improve the quality of that care, according to the CDC website. Congress also named it Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry in memory of U.S. Senator Paul Coverdell of Georgia, who died of a stroke in 2000 while in office, the website says.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com