LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., June 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Lehigh Valley Hospital’s (LVH) Stroke Center at its Cedar Crest and 17th Street sites has received national certification as a Primary Stroke Center from the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). LVH is the first hospital in the greater Lehigh Valley to achieve this status and only the second in Pennsylvania. The certification program was developed by JCAHO in collaboration with the American Stroke Association. Nationwide, only 14 hospitals have earned this distinction to date.
LVH’s Stroke Center at each hospital campus features a Stroke Rapid Response Team that has full-time physician coverage and is supported by a care team that includes emergency services, neurology, radiology and nursing. It is the only program in the region that can treat stroke patients with the clotbuster tPA any time of the day or night within 80 minutes of arrival to the hospital. The Stroke Center participates in multi-center clinical research studies on promising new therapies for stroke patients.
Since the development of LVH’s Stroke Rapid Response Team in June of 2000, nearly 64% reported minimal or no disability with a 2% death rate in situations where tPA was administered to patients. This compares to a National Institute or Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) study that listed 42% of those treated with tPA minimal or no disability and a 17% death rate.
“We’re proud that our Stroke Center is among the first in the country and the only one in the region to be certified as a Primary Stroke Center,” says John Castaldo, M.D., LVHHN’s chief of neurology and medical director of its Stroke Center. “This certification along with our outstanding success rate clearly demonstrates the ability of our center to provide fast, effective treatment that improves stroke patients’ chances of recovery.”
Each year about 700,000 people in the United States suffer a new or recurrent stroke. On the average, someone has a stroke every 45 seconds, and someone dies of one every 3 minutes. Stroke is the third leading cause of death and leading cause of serious disability in the U.S., with about 4.7 million stroke survivors living today.
To earn Primary Stroke Center certification, a hospital must demonstrate compliance with the Brain Attack Coalition’s recommendations, including:
-- Having acute stroke rapid response treatment teams similar to trauma teams in the U.S. -- Operating inpatient stroke care units -- Using pre-written, detailed stroke care protocols -- Having an integrated emergency response system for managing patients experiencing a stroke, with support services including continuously available brain imaging with interpretation and rapid laboratory testing -- Demonstrating a commitment from administration with strong clinical leadership to providing ongoing community education about stroke risks, symptoms and treatment
The Brain Attack Coalition is a national group of professional, voluntary and governmental entities dedicated to reducing the incidence, disabilities and death associated with stroke.
LVH’s Stroke Center underwent a full-day, on-site review in early March, which included patient case reviews, the evaluation of its compliance with standards and the emergency care of stroke patients, as well as assessment of qualifications of its stroke caregivers, and examination of the Center’s performance standards and improvement processes.
Primary Stroke Centers that meet national criteria are awarded certification for a two-year period, allowing the center to display JCAHO’s Gold Seal of Approval to inform the public of this level of care.
Based in Allentown and Bethlehem, Pa., LVHHN comprises Lehigh Valley Hospital - Cedar Crest & I-78, Lehigh Valley Hospital - 17th & Chew, Lehigh Valley Hospital B Muhlenberg and Lehigh Valley Health Services, which includes home health, hospice, rehabilitation, pharmacy, and health management. Advanced regional resources at these non-profit hospitals include a Level I Trauma Center with added pediatric qualifications, as well as burn, kidney transplant, perinatal/neonatal, cardiac, cancer care and neurology and complex neurosurgery. LVHHN hospitals are designated national Magnet hospitals for excellence. LVH is one of Pennsylvania’s largest teaching hospitals and is a major teaching campus of Penn State’s College of Medicine. Additional information is available at http://www.lvh.org/ on the Internet.
Lehigh Valley Hospital
CONTACT: Brian Downs, Director of Media Relations, Lehigh ValleyHospital, +1-610-402-0825
Web site: http://www.lvh.org/