Wabash General Hospital Awarded for Efforts to Improve Rural Stroke Care
Mt. Carmel, Il, July 21, 2025 — People who live in rural communities live an average of three years fewer than urban counterparts and have a 40% higher likelihood of developing heart disease and face a 30% increased risk for stroke mortality — a gap that has grown over the past two decades.[1],[2] Wabash General Hospital is committed to changing that.
For efforts to optimize stroke care and eliminate rural health care outcome disparities, Wabash General Hospital has received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke Rural Recognition Silver award.
The American Heart Association, the world’s leading nonprofit organization focused on heart and brain health for all, recognizes the importance of health care services provided to people living in rural areas by rural hospitals that play a vital role in initiation of timely evidence-based care. For that reason, all rural hospitals participating in Get With The Guidelines- Stroke are eligible to receive award recognition based on a unique methodology focused on early acute stroke performance metrics.
The Silver Award signifies that our department has consistently met the rigorous standards and evidence-based protocols outlined by the American Heart Association for at least 12 consecutive months. This achievement underscores our dedication to timely stroke recognition, rapid intervention, and comprehensive care—ultimately improving outcomes for our patients and community.
We celebrate this milestone as a reflection of our staff’s clinical excellence, coordination, and continuous pursuit of improvement. The Emergency Department remains committed to advancing rural healthcare and raising the standard for stroke care in our region.”
“Patients and health care professionals in rural areas face unique health care challenges and opportunities,” said Karen E. Joynt Maddox, M.D., MPH, co-author on the American Heart Association’s presidential advisory on rural health. “Wabash General Hospital has furthered this important work to improve care for all Americans, regardless of where they live.”
About Wabash General Hospital:
Wabash General Hospital is a critical access hospital located in Mount Carmel, Illinois. It provides quality health care to residents of Wabash County as well as those living in surrounding communities.
Our federal designation as a critical access hospital identifies us as a community hospital with fewer than 25 inpatient beds, 24-hour emergency care and no other hospital within 35 miles. Due to this status, Wabash General can offer a special inpatient rehabilitation program called Swing Bed.
Wabash General Hospital offers a wide variety of services, including family medicine (including pediatrics), emergency care, six orthopaedic and sports medicine clinic locations, athletic trainers in 16 schools (high schools and junior colleges), aesthetics, ambulance services, cardiac and pulmonary rehab, cardiology, chiropractic care, chronic care management, convenient care, general surgery, laboratory, neurology, nutrition services, oncology/hematology, pain management, podiatry, pulmonary medicine, radiology, rehabilitation services, respiratory care, and sleep medicine.
At Wabash General Hospital, we are proud of the many awards that recognize our efforts to be the best, but we are most proud of the personalized experience we offer our patients and families. Our focus and dedication to make sure you receive personalized health care with loving, compassionate staff to serve you and your loved ones is the foundation of our motto, "people you know, helping people you love."
About Get With The Guidelines®
Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 14 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org.
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