PCH Named Stroke Ready Hospital

Paris Community Hospital (PCH) has been recognized as an Emergent Stroke Ready Hospital by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH).

The designation, which became effective January 22, means that IDPH is “confident that Paris Community Hospital will provide quality stroke care and assist in the delivery of care within the State of Illinois,” according to the letter sent to PCH from IDPH.

The designation also means that ambulances transporting potential stroke patients cannot bypass PCH.

Emergent Stroke Ready Hospitals are those capable of diagnosing, treating, and transporting acute stroke patients to a higher level of care as warranted.

“The designation lets our community know that if a loved one is experiencing a stroke emergency, we are prepared to provide them with excellent care close to home,” said Samantha McCarty, RN, manager of critical care at PCH.

To earn this recognition, PCH was required to submit data to the state to indicate its ability to treat stroke according to national standards of care for stroke patients. The data collection will continue as PCH operates as a stroke ready hospital.

“We have a comprehensive quality improvement process we use to review all stroke patients,” said McCarty. “We work with the entire patient care team, including EMS, to continuously evaluate our processes and work to decrease treatment time.” That improvement process is structured according to the American Heart Association’s tool “Get with the Guidelines.”

“I’m proud of our staff for the work they have done to obtain this designation and the commitment they’re making to our patients,” said Dr. Ishmael, medical director of the emergency department/hospitalist program. “We continue to do great things, which includes achieving our 2014 goal, of having patient satisfaction scores above 90 percent for the entire year.”