Staff Report
Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital has been certified as a “stroke ready” facility, which allows paramedics to deliver patients who are at risk of stroke directly to the local hospital, where they can begin receiving treatment immediately.
The road to achieving the Stroke Ready designation from Santa Barbara County Emergency Medical Services began in January 2016 when the hospital launched its Tele-Stroke program, which provides remote specialized neurological evaluations to patients who come to the Emergency Department with stroke or neurological symptoms.
Santa Barbara County Emergency Medical Services provided the final designation on Oct. 31.
When a patient arrives at Emergency Department with stroke symptoms, the “stroke protocol” is implemented with a CT scan and lab work done immediately. In collaboration with the emergency room physician, the on-call neurologist connects via a telemedicine platform using a mobile computer with medical grade video, audio and diagnostic capability, which allows the physician to conduct an acute stroke consultation to determine the patient’s treatment.
In specific instances, stroke patients can be given a de-clotting drug therapy called “tissue Plasminogen Activator” (tPA) within the vital 45-minute window to reduce brain damage. Prior to initiating this program, when the hospital did not have access to on-call neurologists for treatment of stroke, all patients with stroke symptoms were sent to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital for diagnosis and treatment. This delayed or precluded treatment for blood blockages in the brain.
The Tele-Stroke Program has received major philanthropic support from the community, including generous grants from The Wood-Claeyssens Foundation and the Elaine F. Stepanek Foundation.
For more information, call 805-688-6431 or visit www.cottagehealth.org/syvch
