Horizon Health Named Stroke-Ready Hospital Again

Paris Community Hospital, a service of Horizon Health, continues to be officially recognized as an Acute Stroke-Ready Hospital in Illinois.

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced that the hospital would retain its stroke-ready designation, effective January 30, 2021.

IDPH defines an Acute Stroke-Ready Hospital as being one capable of diagnosing, treating, and transporting acute stroke patients to a higher level of care as warranted. The three-year re-designation also means that ambulances transporting potential stroke patients cannot bypass Horizon Health.

“Being a stroke-ready hospital is great for our community because seconds matter,” said Samantha McCarty, RN, manager of critical care at Horizon Health. “We take two important steps before a stroke patient is transferred to another facility. A special medication is administered to dissolve blood clots and reduce neurological damage. Imaging of the brain is also done to assess the patient’s overall health status.”

Horizon Health was first designated an Acute Stroke-Ready Hospital in 2015. To maintain the designation, the hospital was required to submit data to the state to indicate its ability to treat stroke according to national standards of care for stroke patients.

According to the IDPH, stroke is the third leading cause of death in Illinois. In 2017, there were more than 6,000 deaths in the state due to stroke. Approximately 80 percent of all strokes are ischemic strokes, which occur when a blood clot interrupts blood flow to the brain.