Monday, July 07, 2014
 
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Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital earns designation as Emergent Stroke Ready Hospital

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[July 07, 2014]  LINCOLN – Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital was named an Emergent Stroke Ready Hospital by the Illinois Department of Public Health – one of an estimated 20 critical-access hospitals in the state.

The Illinois Stroke Law, passed in 2009 and updated in January, identifies hospitals capable of providing emergency stroke care and directs emergency medical services personnel to transport possible stroke patients to those hospitals.

“This designation ensures that all stroke patients, regardless of where they live, have access to rapid care within the narrow treatment window,” said Dolan Dalpoas, president of Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital, an affiliate of Memorial Health System.

“Stroke designation for our hospital now allows local access to the care needed beginning the moment a patient enters the hospital to the time a life-saving, clot-busting drug is administered within the recommended 60-minute treatment window.”

To be eligible for the stroke-ready hospital designation, Abraham Lincoln adjusted its emergency stroke care policies and procedures to align with nationally recognized, evidence-based standards, such as those from the American Heart/Stroke Association.



Each designated hospital has around-the-clock video-conferencing capability with stroke-trained neurologists. ALMH launched a partnership withMemorial Medical Center in Springfield, another Memorial Health System affiliate, to offer video-conferencing technology for stroke care in 2012.

“Our partnership with Memorial Medical Center gives our community 24/7 access to experienced stroke-trained neurologists who will work with us to evaluate and administer the most effective and appropriate treatments for people suffering from acute stroke or other neurological conditions,” Dalpoas said.

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“This means more people in our community will have access to neurologists and will receive the life-saving care they need close to home,” he said. “Any patients who may need a higher level of care can be quickly identified and transferred to Memorial Medical Center to receive additional treatments including minimally invasive neurointerventional procedures. Everyone else will be able to stay in their community and close to home.”

Memorial Medical Center is certified as a primary stroke center by The Joint Commission. The certification recognizes Memorial for “exceptional efforts to foster better outcomes for stroke care,” according to The Joint Commission.

“With stroke, time is brain. Each second a patient waits to be treated denies the brain of much needed blood and oxygen,” said Dr. Katherine Anderson, the medical director in ALMH’s emergency department. “The cells and tissues in the brain begin to die, causing what can be irreversible damage resulting in disabilities like paralysis on one side of the body, loss of speech and many other deficits.”

[Text received; ANGELA STOLTZENBURG, ABRAHAM LINCOLN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL]

Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital is located at 200 Stahlhut Drive in Lincoln. For more information about ALMH, visit www.ALMH.org .

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