By JERRY WOLFFE Of The Oakland Press
Stroke patients in Oakland County can be assured of receiving the latest and fastest treatment at Henry Ford West Bloomfield and McLaren Oakland hospitals.
McLaren Oakland, in Pontiac, and Ford, both have been designated as certified primary stroke centers.
McLaren will celebrate the certification in the West Tower at 50 North Perry St., from 7-8 a.m. in a ceremony with president and CEO Clarence Sevillian; Dr. Tressa Gardner, director of Emergency Medical Services; and Dr. Aaron L. Ellenbogen, a neurologist, the hospital said in a press release.
The hospitals were certified as primary stroke centers by the Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program.
All patients showing symptoms of an acute stroke will be evaluated rapidly and treated as a stroke code. Its critical to determine whether a patient can receive such therapies as intravenous tPA (tissue plasminogen activator) within one hour of arrival, in compliance with American Heart Association guidelines.
If blood flow to the brain is stopped for longer than a few seconds, the brain cannot get oxygen. When brain cells die, permanent damage can occur. Death and permanent paralysis can result from a stroke.
During a stroke, the brain loses seven million neurons a minute, so there is no time to lose in seeking medical treatment, said Dr. Panos Mitsias, stroke neurologist and medical director of the Stroke Center at the West Bloomfield hospital. At the first sign of a stroke, call 9-1-1.
Many people seeking emergency care for a stroke do not receive optimal treatment, in spite of medical advances in the United States.
Approximately 5 percent of stroke patients in the U.S. receive tPA, Mitsias said Thursday. Of these, only 25 to 30 percent are treated within the golden hour, the first 60 minutes after arriving at the emergency department. This can be due to delays in diagnosis, testing and treatment, poor coordination of care, or a facilitys inability to deliver appropriate treatment.
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Henry Ford West Bloomfield and McLaren Oakland hospitals certified as primary stroke centers