Stroke Awareness - Save Your Brain

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Old 03-23-2015, 09:01 AM
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Default Stroke Awareness - Save Your Brain

We have a friend who recently had a stroke while playing softball. He was taken to TVRH promptly. TVRH is not an accredited Primary Stroke Center. That means TVRH is not equipped to provide the rapid care that can save a stroke victim's brain. Look at our population here folks. We are all potential stroke patients.

Our closest accredited Primary Stroke Centers are: Monroe Regional in Ocala, and Leesburg Regional in Leesburg. Remember this and be sure your friends and relatives know this. These are where you need to be taken if you are having a stroke - save your brain. Be your own advocate. If you are not able, make sure a family member is! Make sure the ambulance is taking you to one of these two hospitals if you have symptoms of a stroke.

We believe our friend will be ok. In the meantime get the word out to your friends and relatives. I intend to contact TVRH to encourage them to establish an Accredited Primary Stroke Center.
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Old 03-23-2015, 09:11 AM
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Originally Posted by dbussone View Post
We have a friend who recently had a stroke while playing softball. He was taken to TVRH promptly. TVRH is not an accredited Primary Stroke Center. That means TVRH is not equipped to provide the rapid care that can save a stroke victim's brain. Look at our population here folks. We are all potential stroke patients.

Our closest accredited Primary Stroke Centers are: Monroe Regional in Ocala, and Leesburg Regional in Leesburg. Remember this and be sure your friends and relatives know this. These are where you need to be taken if you are having a stroke - save your brain. Be your own advocate. If you are not able, make sure a family member is! Make sure the ambulance is taking you to one of these two hospitals if you have symptoms of a stroke.

We believe our friend will be ok. In the meantime get the word out to your friends and relatives. I intend to contact TVRH to encourage them to establish an Accredited Primary Stroke Center.

David, what does that encompass? I read that we lost a neurologist a few years back here under troubling conditions that hit the paper. They need to administer TPA Stat, right? And of course they would need a neurologist on duty at all times..or at least on call?

I think the company who is running the hospital needs to hear this from all of us. Call or write as DBussone suggests.
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Old 03-23-2015, 09:20 AM
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when my husband had symptoms of stroke, I took him to TVRh but they sent him by ambulance to Leesburg ... which took the entire day to get an ambulance available ( he was evaluated at Villages and they said he was ok, but said they had no neurologist - I didn't understand if neurologist was not on call or not on staff , since I was stressed at the time.. Leesburg staff indicated they could not figure out why they moved him there..but thank goodness he is ok and that is what matters to us.
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Old 03-23-2015, 09:27 AM
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when my husband had symptoms of stroke, I took him to TVRh but they sent him by ambulance to Leesburg ... which took the entire day to get an ambulance available ( he was evaluated at Villages and they said he was ok, but said they had no neurologist - I didn't understand if neurologist was not on call or not on staff , since I was stressed at the time.. Leesburg staff indicated they could not figure out why they moved him there..but thank goodness he is ok and that is what matters to us.
Typically a neurologist or team of neurologists will lead the care team. But that is not mandatory. There are a number of requirements, including the ability to safely provide a clot busting drug within an hour of the appearance of the stroke symptoms - much like is done for heart attack patients. Here are some general guidelines:

Certification Standards Requirements
Institutes are required to comply with national standards regulating stroke care and clinical practice. A stroke center must demonstrate performance evaluation tools to assess and improve care for stroke victims. Stroke centers must also have excellent standards of program management, clinical information and self-management initiatives.

Get With The Guidelines - Stroke is a program devised by the ASA, which advises hospitals on effective techniques for gathering and analyzing data for stroke victims and effective methods for physicians, nursing staff and other healthcare professionals to assess their performances. The course also offers crucial guidelines on treating and discharging patients. These guidelines must be strictly adhered to if a stroke center wishes to gain certification through the JCHAO.

The ASA hosts a range of professional development opportunities, such as the International Stroke Conference, which assists stroke care teams develop the necessary skills and knowledge needed to acquire the PSCC certification. The ASA also formulated the Acute Stroke Treatment Program (ASTP), which assists hospital meet the necessary infrastructure requirements to start up and gain certification as a primary stoke center.

Recertification Requirements
The JCHAO offers one-year certification to primary stoke centers who adhere to all of these criteria. To gain a one year certificate extension, stroke centers are required to submit documents outlining their continuing adherence to care standards and performance evaluation. Primary stroke centers are required to undergo an on-site assessment every two years.
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Old 03-23-2015, 09:33 AM
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We have some clinical folks on TOTV. I'd like to see how they feel about this issue.
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Old 03-23-2015, 09:48 AM
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sadly the villages hospital gained stroke center accreditation several years back but lost it when the neurologist in charge fell subject to her own personal problems. i don't know if they are trying to regain accreditation but i would hope so
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Old 03-23-2015, 09:51 AM
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sadly the villages hospital gained stroke center accreditation several years back but lost it when the neurologist in charge fell subject to her own personal problems. i don't know if they are trying to regain accreditation but i would hope so

Thanks for this information. So now we need to encourage TVRH to restart it
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Old 03-23-2015, 10:53 AM
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Default Stroke Awareness - Save Your Brain

Here's the email I sent the CFHA CEO. If you wish to do the same, go to the CFHA website. There is a link there so you can email Mr. Henderson.

Mr. Henderson - I am a former hospital executive now semi-retired and living in The Villages. I appreciate all you and your staff are doing to provide quality health care here. However, I was disappointed to learn that TVRH is not a recognized provider of primary stroke care. I realize the LRH is accredited, but for the 100,000 of us living in TV the extra time to get there costs brain cells. Our other alternative is to go to Monroe Regional.

I understand TVRH had an accredited stroke center at one time. I don't know what caused its failure, but I would like to encourage you to consider reestablishing a full fledged stroke program at TVRH. I realize this will not be an easy decision for CFHA.

Thank you for your consideration and please let me know if I can be of any assistance. Please accept my best wishes for your continuing success.

Sincerely,
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Old 03-23-2015, 12:52 PM
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Default Stroke Awareness - Save Your Brain

TVRH/CFHA CEO's response to my email. Here is the very prompt and detailed response of Mr Henderson. And it is a very positive report.

"I think by now you probably know quite a bit about CFHA. Both of our
hospitals are licensed by the State of Florida as primary stroke centers.
At TVRH and LRMC there are both neuro-hospitalists and private neurologists
providing continuous neurology coverage 24/7. As a primary stroke
center, we also can and do administer TPA when needed. Leesburg
is covered by neurosurgery, but not The Villages at present. We most
of the time will transfer neurosurgery patients to LRMC if needed.

As you may also know the Joint Commission also certifies stroke programs,
and we have this certification at Leesburg but not yet at The Villages.
We're working on that and I'd say we will be ready for survey in the next
12 months at The Villages. Up until this point, TVRH was never certified
by TJC.

The next step up for either or both hospitals would be a comprehensive
stroke center licensure by the state, which would involved the procurement of
interventional neuro-hospitalists to cover the facilities 24/7.

The closest program to The Villages is the UF program at Shands Hospital
in Gainesville. We routinely transfer patients there if they can benefit
from neuro-interventionalist services. "
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Old 03-23-2015, 01:14 PM
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Thank you for sharing critically important information. I read negatives and positives about the villages hospital, about food, slowness, parking. Not being certified to treat a stroke patient is unfathomable.
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Old 03-23-2015, 01:18 PM
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Thank you for sharing critically important information. I read negatives and positives about the villages hospital, about food, slowness, parking. Not being certified to treat a stroke patient is unfathomable.
The good news is that they are working on it.
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Old 03-23-2015, 02:22 PM
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Thank you for sharing critically important information. I read negatives and positives about the villages hospital, about food, slowness, parking. Not being certified to treat a stroke patient is unfathomable.
But didn't you read this part? -- "Both of our hospitals are licensed by the State of Florida as primary stroke centers. At TVRH and LRMC there are both neuro-hospitalists and private neurologists providing continuous neurology coverage 24/7. As a primary stroke center, we also can and do administer TPA when needed."
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Old 03-23-2015, 02:31 PM
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But didn't you read this part? -- "Both of our hospitals are licensed by the State of Florida as primary stroke centers. At TVRH and LRMC there are both neuro-hospitalists and private neurologists providing continuous neurology coverage 24/7. As a primary stroke center, we also can and do administer TPA when needed."
No. I started my answer and then walked way. I came back half hour or so later and submitted my answer without reading further. The CEO response was in that gap of time. I appreciate you bringing this to my attention.
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Old 03-23-2015, 02:59 PM
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This is a great thread. Thank you all for being good people. And OP, thank you for setting the tone...you could have been screeching...
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Old 03-23-2015, 03:19 PM
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You may have "some valid" points however I can beg to differ somewhat with you as we've experienced that stroke issue here. I cannot express enough how great the care and expertise (so far) has been. From the EMT's, to the ER folks to the folks on the floor. We have to advocate for ourselves too and remember that doctor's can't read minds neither. WE have to give them as much information as we know it so they can make their determinations.

From our perspective TVRH is great as is the care we've both gotten there. We've experienced the Leesburg Hospital and while the care was good there...they weren't the one's who detected the stroke. It was the ER folks who suspected something at TVRH and our loved one was admitted. So, it's a matter of perspective too and individual experience.

I need to get the business card of our neurologist...he's been really great in that he includes me into the conversation. I sort of know his name (it's something like Loper...but I can't be sure). I was told by one of the cardiologists (who happens to be from a better than good practice here) that he's top-notch. Maybe I can share that info. later. Remember advocating is a must. You need to be sure ALL the specialists have conferred as you may get conflicting responses. Not only here but anywhere. Our daughter and son in law went through that in a large teaching hospital up north.
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