The C-E-O of the Huron-Perth Healthcare Alliance says a new stroke program that goes into effect on December 1st will reduce delays in treating stroke patients in Stratford and Goderich.
Andrew Williams explains the pre-registration program is a collaborative between Stratford, Goderich and Emergency Medical Services staff in Huron and Perth counties. The program involves pre-registering stroke protocal while patients are being transported to either hospital and that will significantly reduce both Door to Needle time and Door to CT/CT Angiogram time. Williams says Goderich has telestroke so they have immediate connection with neurologists at other facilities, Stratford has the ability with the district stroke centre to assess there and they've already had situations where they've been able to treat stroke patients immediately and the results have been incredible.
Williams adds by doing a lot of the admission work while the patient is on the way to the hospital means they can go directly into the C-T area without having to stop in ER and go through various processes there and that time is critical for a stroke patient.
“Goderich has telestroke so they have immediate connection with neurologists at other facilities, Stratford has the ability with the district stroke centre to assess here and we have a great partnership with London and other providers and we have some really positive examples of patients who have had a stroke and had immediate intervention and the outcomes have been incredible.”
“Doing a lot of the admission work actually as the patient is coming into the hospital, so they go right into the C-T area rather than having to stop in the ER and go through various processes so it speeds up the time – and with stroke patients, time is everything – the faster you can get the patient assessed with the C-T, the faster you can make a treatment decision, the better the outcomes are going to be.”
