An area hospital has recently become one of leaders in stroke care in Central Illinois.
Passavant Area Hospital has now been redesignated as an acute stroke ready hospital, which means, it has designed processes for stroke care that rival the best stroke hospitals in the United States.
Emergency department nurse manager Jerrod Wilson recently joined our WLDS “AM Conversation” to talk about the latest in stroke care.
Wilson defines a stroke as a decrease of blood flow to the brain.
He says a person nearly has 3 hours until someone is severely effected by the stroke. But calling 9-1-1 and getting the person to the hospital faster is the best way to go.
“With medical advancements today, we have the opportunity to identify a stroke very rapidly and to also remove any deficits you may have in the future. That comes through very quick acting, through the people in the hospital and the processes we designed. Number one thing, if you or a loved one sees signs of a stroke, call 9-1-1 immediately. The quicker you can get help, the better off you’re going to be.” said Wilson.
Wilson talks about the kind of treatment you could expect if you were experiencing a stroke.
“In the case of someone who is displaying stroke like symptoms, we go directly to our imaging and treatment,some cases under 10 minutes. We will take in our cat scan machine and determine what kind of stroke it is. Once we get the results, which are fairly quick as well, we start to determining what kind of treatment you are going to receive. Being a part of a comprehensive stroke center like Memorial Medical Center, gives us the ability the leverages the different treatment options. Depending on what kind of stroke, it determines what route we will go. This is something that happens very quickly, So it is something we are very good at.” said Wilson.
Wilson explains some of the symptoms of a stroke.
“What you will see is weakness on one side of the body or numbness. Some cases complete paralysis, on one side of the body. You may see difficulty speaking and significant confusion with your loved one. Those are some telltale signs of a stroke, which are unique because that isn’t something that occurs too often in the body and when we see that immediately need to jump into action to see how we are going to fix this stroke. ” Wilson said.
Wilson says if you notice someone having a stroke, don’t give them aspirin. That will stop the blood from clotting.