TLC Health Receives Rural Stroke Designation
TLC Health is expanding access to life-saving stroke treatment to the rural residents of the Southern Tier by announcing their designation as a rural stroke center at the Lake Shore Health Care Center (Irving). Using advances in the Internet and telecommunications, the stroke center designation will provide patients with prompt and effective stroke treatment to those who might not otherwise be able to obtain treatment within 3 hours of the onset of symptoms. As touted by the American Stroke Association; “with a stroke, time lost is brain lost.”
The American Stroke Association indicates that stroke is the leading cause of death and disability in the United States. To bring the point a little closer home, according to the New York State Department of Health, strokes killed 6,855 New Yorkers in 2004, with over 50,000 hospitalizations due to stroke. Studies have shown that the risk of death and disability is greatly reduced when patients receive prompt and appropriate treatment.
TLC Health is one of several hospitals participating in the New York State Rural Telemedicine Initiative. The service permits “real time” interactive consultation service to take place between a specialist physician located at Millard Fillmore Gates Hospital and the patient in the emergency room at Lake Shore Health Care Center. Participation in this initiative required the development of diagnostic/treatment protocols that met response times as established by Brain Attack Coalition and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Additionally, rural stroke centers must have acute stroke teams available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, along with having a neurologist on staff and available.
Stroke center services began the first of the year at TLC’s Lake Shore Health Care Center with nine patients already being seen and successfully treated. “TLC is very fortunate to have a team of available neurologists on staff; however, in a situation when these specialists are not readily available, our designation as a rural stroke center allows our patients the advantage of having a neurologist consultation via a computer, phone line, and a secure website within in minutes of entering our emergency room,” said Louis Frascella, TLC president and chief executive officer. Based on the assessment of the neurologist (either present in person at Lake Shore Health Care Center or via telemedicine consultation at Millard Fillmore Gates) appropriate diagnosis and treatment can be made within the critical hours that follow a stroke.
The stroke warning signs:
Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body.
Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding.
Sudden trouble seeking in one or both eyes.
Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
Sudden, severe headache with no known cause
If you or some one you know is experiencing any of these symptoms of stroke, it is important to seek treatment at the emergency room quickly – “time lost is brain lost.”
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