Vim & Vigor - Summer 2014 - Community Healthcare - 7

The Stroke Centers of Excellence at the
hospitals of Community Healthcare System
have earned the Gold Seal of Approval™
from The Joint Commission for Primary
Stroke Centers. This recognition is
presented to stroke programs that
follow stringent national standards and
guidelines that significantly improve
outcomes for stroke patients.
The hospitals' Acute Rehabilitation
Centers have received three-year
accreditation by the Commission on
Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.
Neurologist Gauri
Kalokhe, MD

Neurologist George
Abu-Aita, MD

rehabilitation, to provide each individual who comes to any
of the Community Healthcare System hospitals for stroke
treatment the best possible experience and recovery."

JACK O'CONNER'S MIRACLE
Lansing resident Jack O'Conner had been in the hospital with
bouts of atrial ﬁbrillation before, but this time it was different. He couldn't seem to catch his breath and his left arm and
leg began to go numb. While in the emergency department,
his cardiologist, Shashidhar Divakaruni, MD, recognized
that O'Conner was suffering an ischemic stroke and immediately called all stroke team members to his side.
"He reassured me that it would be OK and that he was
here," explains O'Conner. "I am very thankful that I was in
the right place at the right time."
O'Conner learned that he had a blood clot in his heart
due to atrial ﬁbrillation. There is a small window of time to
reverse the paralysis, and the quick actions of Divakaruni,
neurologist Gauri Kalokhe, MD, and the whole stroke team
at Community Hospital, proved to make a difference for
O'Conner. He was given tissue plasminogen activator (tPA),
a clot-busting drug approved for certain patients having a
stroke. Not even 20 minutes afterward, he was able to lift his
left arm and then, a few minutes later, lift his leg.
"Our dedicated stroke team ensures that stroke patients
are diagnosed and treated as quickly as possible, knowing
that every minute counts, limiting brain damage and the risk
for complications," says Kalokhe.

RICHARD CHAMBERS' MIRACLE
Home-schooling and using the Internet provided Richard
Chambers with some general medical knowledge about
strokes and recovery. But when the 17-year-old had a hemorrhagic stroke in the summer of 2011, he had no way of knowing just what it would take to get his life back on track.
The Hammond resident is now 23 years old and planning
to graduate this month with a degree in journalism, thanks to
the help from the team at St. Catherine Hospital who walked
him through the rehabilitation process. >

The certiﬁed Stroke Care Centers
of Community Healthcare System
ensure that patients receive treatment
according to higher national standards
and recommendations. Stroke
programs at Community Hospital,
St. Catherine Hospital and
St. Mary Medical Center have
received the Gold Seal of Approval™
from the Joint Commission for
Primary Stroke Centers. Each hospital
was awarded this distinction after
The Joint Commission conducted
its on-site review of the stroke care
programs, treatment standards and
guidelines, and preventive education.
CALL

Neurologist Andrea
DeLeo, DO

Stop Stroke in Its Tracks

If you have had a stroke, learn how to prevent
another one through Community Healthcare
System's Moving Forward program. To sign up,
call 219-852-6499 (Munster), 219-392-7641
(East Chicago) or 219-947-6345 (Hobart).

SUM MER 2014

Vim & Vigor - Summer 2014 - Community Healthcare

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