Covenant Health has announced the formation of an area-wide Stroke Network, encompassing 24 counties with a comprehensive community education campaign as well as shared treatment protocols in the emergency rooms of its five acute care hospitals.
Those five Covenant Health hospitals are Fort Sanders Regional, Fort Sanders Parkwest, Fort Sanders Loudon, Fort Sanders Sevier and Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge.
Alan Guy, Covenant Health president and CEO, said the health system plans to become the community’s leading innovator of stroke care with its comprehensive medical and regional approach.
"Our hospitals have joined together to bring our area new stroke treatments so advanced they can save lives, prevent paralysis and avoid disability, if strokes are caught in time. The network is committed to improving the quality of life of individuals who have experienced a stroke or are at risk of experiencing a stroke in our community," he said.
According to the American Heart Association, the state of Tennessee has one of the nation’s highest death rates from stroke. In addition, Tennessee is in the nation’s "stroke belt," a 12-state area in which stroke deaths are higher than in the other parts of the country.
Key features of the Covenant Health stoke network include:
*Prevention: community education and screening campaigns
*Speciality intervention clinics designed to treat the risk factors associated with stroke
*Early intervention of stroke through coordinated EMS and Emergency Department care
*Acute care delivery by specially-trained stroke care teams
*Coordinated rehabilitation
*Improved care for stroke survivors at home through expanded home-based services
*Expansion of community resources promoting independent living
*Post-stroke education and specialty follow-up clinics to maximize health and adjustment following stroke.
Last summer, Covenant Health was formed with the consolidation of MMC HealthCare System (MHS) and Fort Sanders Health System. Guy said the boards of both systems felt they could do "more for the community together than apart. The Covenant Health stroke network is a perfect example of how our mission as a community-owned health system can make a solid and positive impact on the East Tennessee area."
"Last year, we told our patients, physicians and employees that the consolidation would produce significant community benefits. Our network’s medical collaboration and innovation are highly visible signs of those benefits," Guy said.
Vicki Underwood, R.N., operations leader for the stroke program, said the time was right for a multi-hospital network, due in large part to changing clinical standards in stroke treatment, including the use of the revolutionary clotbusting drug TPA (tissue plasminogen activator).
"The national standard of care for stroke patients is rapidly changing. A number of clinical trials have indicated that more aggressive intervention, using new drugs and breakthrough techniques, has the potential to dramatically improve outcomes for many patients. Stroke no longer has to be the primary cause of disability in the nation," Underwood said.
"In addition, Tennessee has a growing population of individuals in the age group most at risk for stroke. We felt that now is the time to use this more aggressive medical approach to redesign and streamline stroke care in our acute care member hospitals," Underwood said.
She said Covenant Health’s goals are to aid stroke patients by maximizing their quality of life and recovery, while minimizing the cost of acute care, the length of stay in medical facilities, and ultimately, decreasing the incidence of disability and death.
Underwood also stressed that it’s critical for a person to call 911 immediately if they suddenly feel numbness or weakness, especially in one side, or if that person experiences blurred or decreased vision, difficulty speaking or understanding, dizziness and loss of balance.
For further information on the Covenant Health stroke network, call (865) 541-1208.
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