HARRISON, Ark. (KY3) - When a stroke happens, a 911 call comes in, the ambulance is dispatched, and once the patient arrives at the hospital, evaluations and care can begin. Thousands of hospitals across the U.S. go through those series of events every day, but the team at North Arkansas Regional Medical Center has it boiled down to a science.
“We won the gold award,” said Rachel Bertrand, APRN, North Arkansas Regional Medical Center. “We’re pretty proud of our team. We have to meet certain standards to acquire those awards.”
Last month NARMC was named a Stroke Ready Hospital by the Arkansas Department of Health and received several other awards for stroke care by the American Heart Association. Their team said it highlights the teamwork between their EMS team and the hospital staff.
“So if a patient comes in by EMS, we’re given a code stroke alert before arrival, they’ve already got the blood drawn, and they’ve already got that initial assessment,” said Lauren Loggins, Nurse Manager, NARMC. “When the patient arrives, the nurse goes with EMS directly to the CT scanner so we can get an image of your brain and see what’s going on, and in the meantime, in the background, some of the staff are already starting that connection with our tele neurologist, so we can get care to the patient immediately.”
According to staff, NARMC serves 2500 square miles and two rural counties, which makes a timely response even more critical.
“Being in a rural emergency department, we face an obstacle of access to care, and so a lot of your specialists are treating patients in larger hospitals and not in the rural communities, so we have to get creative in our delivery of care, with education for staff and providers, or telehealth or connection and partnerships with those specialists,” said Loggins.
They said when it comes to strokes specifically, every second counts.
“One of the first things that goes through my mind when a stroke patient comes in through the emergency room is, again, time, because time is brain, and we want to be able to save as much brain and neurons as we can with our patients,” said Kara Snider, Stroke Program Coordinator, NARMC.
The team also said that being in a rural area can also lead to a deeper connection with the patients they serve in their community.
“When you’re in an urban area, sometimes you may only be with a patient for five minutes; it’s very common for us to be with the patient 30 to 40 minutes,” said Scottie Trammel, EMS Director, NARMC. “It’s just all about taking care of the community. The majority of the folks that work for us live here and are from here, so they have a very vested interest in taking care of the people that they know and love.”
The staff wants the public to be aware of the acronym BE FAST when it comes to strokes. The B stands for Balance, trouble walking. E stands for eyes, blurred vision, or double vision. F stands for Face, facial drooping or, facial asymmetry. A stands for Arm, arm weakness or numbness. S stands for Speech, slurred speech, difficulty talking, or even saying the wrong words. T stands for time, the importance of calling 911 immediately.
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