[naviga:h3]Stroke care earns award for hospital[/naviga:h3]

Butler Memorial Hospital has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get with the Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.

This recognizes the hospital’s success in ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to national guidelines.

To receive the award, hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get with the Guidelines-Stroke achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month periods and achieve 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight guideline measures.

This is the third time that Butler Memorial has received this designation.

[naviga:h3]Mortgage rate rises a little to 3.45%[/naviga:h3]

WASHINGTON — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates edged higher this week, remaining near historically low levels as a continued enticement to prospective homebuyers.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday the average for the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.45 percent from 3.42 percent last week. The average rate is down sharply from 4.04 percent a year ago.

The 15-year fixed mortgage rate increased to 2.75 percent from 2.72 percent last week.

The average fee for a 30-year mortgage remained at 0.5 point this week. The fee for a 15-year loan also was unchanged from last week at 0.5 point.

Rates on adjustable five-year mortgages averaged 2.78 percent, up from 2.76 percent last week. The fee rose to 0.5 point from 0.4 point.