Bronson Vascular Lab Recognized for Patient Care and TestingMarch 12, 2009 KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Patients tested for vascular disease at Bronson receive a high level of patient care and quality diagnosis testing, according to the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories (ICAVL). The organization recognized the Bronson Non Invasive Vascular Laboratory with a three-year accreditation for its noninvasive testing standards. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, costing more than $83.7 billion each year in health services, medications and lost work time due to disability. One American dies every 32 seconds from cardiovascular disease, disorders of the heart and blood vessels. Each year, 2 million people in the United States alone develop deep vein thrombosis – blood clots in the veins. This affliction becomes life threatening for 500,000 of those people when the blood clot breaks loose and travels to the lungs. Early detection of these life-threatening vascular diseases is possible through the use of noninvasive vascular testing techniques performed within vascular laboratories. Bronson is one of a select number of vascular laboratories in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico to meet or exceed the ICAVL standards. Participation in the accreditation process demonstrates the laboratory’s attention to a high level of patient care and quality testing. About the ICAVL The ICAVL is a non-profit organization established with the support of 11 medical societies, including physicians, technologists and sonographers that represent medical specialties including cardiology, neurology, radiology, vascular medicine, vascular surgery, neurosurgery, internal medicine, and biology. About Bronson Methodist Hospital Bronson Methodist Hospital, located at 601 John St. in downtown Kalamazoo, Mich., is the flagship of Bronson Healthcare Group, a not-for-profit healthcare system serving all of southwest Michigan and northern Indiana. With 380 licensed beds and all private rooms, Bronson Methodist Hospital provides care in virtually every specialty—cardiology, orthopedics, surgery, emergency medicine, neurology, oncology—with advanced capabilities in critical care as a Level I Trauma Center; in neurological care as a Joint Commission certified Primary Stroke Center; in cardiac care as the region’s first accredited Chest Pain Emergency Center; in obstetrics as the leading BirthPlace and only high-risk pregnancy center in southwest Michigan, and in pediatrics as one of only six children's hospitals in the state. The hospital is the recipient of the 2005 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation's highest presidential honor for quality and organizational performance excellence, and was named one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals for 2005 by Solucient. Bronson Healthcare Group is one of Kalamazoo’s largest employers and has been ranked for six consecutive years by Working Mother magazine as one of the nation’s 100 best companies to work for. Annually, Bronson provides more than $83 million in community benefits through outreach and charitable care for the un- and under-insured. Bronson also serves the largest percentage of Medicaid patients of any Michigan hospital outside of southeast Michigan. ###
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