Ryan Ostry
Bugle Reporter
@RyanOstry_BR18
rostry@buglenewspapers.com
AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet has received a certification as a Comprehensive Stroke Center from DNV GL Healthcare, an international accrediting body for healthcare facilities.
AMITA Health Saint Joseph is one of only five hospitals in Illinois to have received this level of advanced certification for the care of stroke from DNV GL Healthcare.
“It really puts us in a class with only five other hospitals in the state of Illinois,” said Abby Hornbogen, Vice President of Operations. “It just confirms the outstanding care that we provide our patients, specifically in the stroke realm.”
According to DNV GL, Comprehensive Stroke Centers represent the most advanced stroke treatment available in a given geographic area.
This designation means the clinicians at AMITA Health Saint Joseph have proven their efforts in caring for stroke patients and exceed the patient safety standards, best practice policies and procedures and meet target volumes set forth by DNV GL, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the American Stroke Association.
“You have to have the resources to provide the right treatment for the stroke patients 24/7,” Hornbogen said. “Doing the procedures to treat those strokes such as coilings, clippings or any type of endovascular procedure and we also serve as a regional referral center. So there’s a lot that goes into it.”
The emphasis placed on deploying a disciplined management system and relevant clinical best practices sets DNV GL certified Comprehensive Stroke Centers apart from other programs.
Patients suspected of experiencing a stroke are immediately evaluated and treated by the AMITA Health Saint Joseph stroke team, which includes emergency department physicians and clinicians, neurosurgeons and endovascular physicians available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide the best, most efficient care for the best results.
Certification by DNV GL Healthcare as a Comprehensive Stroke Center is based on standards set forth by the Brain Attack Coalition and the American Stroke
Association, affirming the certified organizations address the full spectrum of stroke care — diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and patient education—and establishes clear metrics to evaluate outcomes.
According to Robert Erickson, president and CEO of the medical center, when it comes to the severity of a stroke, patients need quality clinicians, resources and extreme efficiency, due to the time-critical nature of the condition,
With all of the help and care AMITA provides included in the stay of the patient is a dedicated stroke unit, dedicated stroke bed and those who are working in the specialized unit must have at least eight hours of stroke education.
“The patient comes in, we stabilize them and actually work really close with our EMS partners,” Hornbogen said. “We treat them immediately, the stroke neurologist and stroke team assesses them and then we go from there.”
Stroke is the number five cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States, according to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.
On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every four minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.
“Once the stroke patient is stabilized it’s nice because we don’t just send them back into the community,” Hornbogen said. “We have a coordinated follow up plan, ensure that all of our patients who are inpatients are seen by our therapists and take steps to ensure after they are discharged to make sure they get adjusted correctly.”