McDonough District Hospital issued the following announcement on Sept. 25.
Based off the quality data submitted to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), McDonough District Hospital once again met the requirements to be called an Acute Stroke-Ready Hospital.
The IDPH identifies hospitals capable of providing emergent stroke care and directing EMS providers to transport possible acute stroke patients to these hospitals. MDH enters its 21st year as part of the larger OSF Stroke Network.
“To earn the attestation we have to submit quality data to the IDPH. Every one of our quality measurements met and surpassed the standards, which is a huge accomplishment. Our department has greatly improved over the last couple of years in the evaluated areas,” said Leader of Emergency Services Stefany Kendrick, RN. “We are evaluated for stroke attestation on our medicines, equipment we have on hand such as our CT scanner, and making sure the staff and physicians have the appropriate training to stabilize and transfer a stroke patient to an approved stroke center.”
According to Vice President of Nursing Wanda Foster, RN, this designation honors MDH’s team approach.
“This has been a multidisciplinary team approach to continually improve our Stroke Alert procedure,” said Foster.
The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association suggest using the letters in FAST to spot stroke signs and knowing when to call 9-1-1.
- Face drooping: Does one side of the face droop or is it numb.
- Arm weakness: Is one arm weak or numb, ask the person to raise both arms.
- Speech difficulty: Is speech slurred, are they unable to speak or hard to understand.
- Time to call 9-1-1: If someone shows any of these symptoms, even if the symptoms go away, call 9-1-1 and say, “I think this is a stroke” to help get the person to the hospital immediately.
Original source can be found here.
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