Vim & Vigor - Summer 2011 - Community Healthcare - (Page 3)

ke ro t strikes, Sseconds When Hospitals of Community Healthcare System provide quality care count Crown Point resident Joseph Hetzel visits with Andrea DeLeo, D.O., neurologist and medical director of the stroke program at St. Catherine Hospital, after he made a full recovery thanks to the quick actions of his co-workers and the award-winning stroke care team. L By AngeLA Moore ast fall, Joseph Hetzel of Crown Point went to work as usual at BP Amoco’s Whiting Refinery where he is an asset manager. When he began feeling tired and run-down, he brushed it off as possible flu symptoms. As the workday progressed, he grew even more fatigued and weak and, as he was leaving his shift, he staggered across the parking lot to his car. Co-workers stepped in and called 911. Hetzel arrived at St. Catherine Hospital’s Emergency department within 15 minutes. It turns out that Hetzel was suffering from a stroke. What he needed was quick medical attention, the key to survival and recovery. Fortunately, he was just minutes away from one of Community Healthcare System’s certified stroke centers—St. Catherine Hospital. thrombolytic agent, or clot-busting drug, approved for certain patients having a heart attack or stroke. Shortly afterward, Hetzel began to experience feeling again on his right side. Hetzel says he knows that if he had stayed home that day and gone back to sleep, the outcome would have been less positive. “I knew it wasn’t good by the way I was feeling,” Hetzel says. “My entire right side was going numb. I am thankful for my coworkers and for the doctors and staff at St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago. The care I received was quick. Everything they did was right on the mark.” Team Of SpecialiSTS WOrkS TOgeTher To provide optimum care to stroke patients, the hospitals of the Community Healthcare System—St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago, Community Hospital in Munster and St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart—have established a dedicated unit. A specialized stroke team works together to diagnose and develop individual plans of care to help patients who suffer strokes, and those who are at risk, to live longer, fuller lives. This team of neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuroradiologists, clinical nurse specialists, registered nurses, emergency medical personnel, and therapy and rehabilitation professionals gets involved with the patients and their families from their first point of contact, often in the Emergency department. “One of the most important aspects of caring for stroke patients is ensuring that there is the same high standard of care in a timely, efficient manner,” says Andrea DeLeo, D.O., MSE, neurologist and medical director of St. Catherine Hospital’s stroke program. “A dedicated stroke unit reduces mortality and improves overall outcomes for patients. “This means that, no matter when a patient comes into the hospital experiencing a stroke, each person receives the same quality of care,” she says. “We have worked diligently to collaborate and customize patient services—from emergency to rehabilitation—to provide each individual who comes to any of the Community Healthcare System hospitals for stroke treatment, the best possible experience and recovery.” > Vim & Vigor • SUMM ER 2011 Only a Small WindOW Of Time St. Catherine Hospital’s certified stroke care program ensures that patients, like Hetzel, receive treatment according to higher national standards and recommendations. Its stroke program has been recognized by the American Heart Association/ American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®— Stroke Bronze Achievement Award. Get With The Guidelines is a quality improvement initiative that provides hospital staff with tools that follow proven, evidence-based guidelines and procedures in caring for heart failure patients, saving lives and preventing future hospital stays. During the short drive to the hospital that day, the right side of Hetzel’s body became paralyzed. There is a small window of time to reverse that paralysis, and the quick action of his co-workers and his choice in hospitals proved the difference for Hetzel. He was given tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), a 3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Summer 2011 - Community Healthcare

Vim & Vigor - Summer 2011 - Community Healthcare
Contents
Community Message
When Stroke Strikes, Seconds Count
Rays of Hope Fight Cancer
Girl Talk
Say What?
Action Plan
Like This? Try That!
Being George Clooney
A Day in the Life of Your Heart
Unexpected Heroes
Get in Gear
A Real Lifesaver
A Real Lifesaver
Spotlight on Community Hospital
Spotlight on St. Catherine Hospital
Spotlight on St. Mary Medical Center
A Safer Hospital Stay

Vim & Vigor - Summer 2011 - Community Healthcare

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