(Paducah, KY) -- A new University of Louisville Heath Care stroke partnership in western Kentucky will save lives, save time, and save health care dollars.
On Wednesday, UofL President Dr. James Ramsey announced a $300,000 grant, in collaboration with Western Baptist Hospital, in Paducah, and the Purchase District Health Department to pilot a stroke system for the state to standardize care and improve outcomes.
The project builds on success already achieved at University Hospital, where the UofL Stroke Team reports a 50 percent increase in the number of patients going home or into rehabilitation versus a nursing home or death. Contributing factors include public awareness, wider utilization of clot-busting medication and interventional neurology. UofL has been able to administer the clot-buster, known as IV-tPA, in 14 percent of cases, compared to a 2 percent rate nationwide.
With a telemedicine network, the UofL Stroke Team is a statewide resource. It has 11 robots in 11 hospitals, including Western Baptist, offering 24/7 access to additional expertise in Louisville. With a secure video connection, the UofL stroke specialist can beam in to assist in evaluations and provide real time consultations when needed.
Dr. Ramsey called the partnership an exciting project to improve the health care for all Kentuckians. He said, “UofL Hospital and Western Baptist are innovative medical leaders and they make a good team which is important for the state of Kentucky.”
Kentucky sits atop the “stroke belt” –12 states in the Southeast that lead the nation in stroke deaths. People living in the stroke belt have 15 percent higher risk of stroke and 30 to 40 percent higher risk of death from stroke. In the Commonwealth, it is a major problem – only 11 other states have a higher death rate from stroke than Kentucky, where 67.5 per 100,000 people die from stroke.
Stroke is also a huge financial burden on the health care system. From medical bills to the lost productivity in death and disability, strokes cost Kentuckians more than $250 million a year.
The grant will take stroke care beyond emergency rooms into the community, educating individuals about stroke symptoms and Emergency Medical Services about rapid response to stroke. “This is truly a concentrated public health approach,” said cardiologist Patrick Withrow, M.D., vice president and chief medical officer at Western Baptist, “from the patients and EMS to our expert teams at Western Baptist and UofL.”
Together with the Purchase District Health Department, the research and medical expertise will be used to build better educational programs for the public and all medical providers. “I am proud we are part of this team, and I look forward to helping all Kentuckians make some healthy changes,” said Ballard County Judge Executive Vickie Viniard, chair of the Purchase District Health Department.
“It starts with you,” said UofL neurologist Kerri Remmel, M.D., the governor’s appointee as Kentucky’s Stroke Champion.
She and Dr. Withrow co-chair the Kentucky Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Task Force.
Dr. Remmel emphasized everyone plays a role when it comes to stroke survival. “Time is critical and if you, your spouse or co-worker recognize the warning signs, it can save your life,” she said. “Time saved is brain saved. When a stroke hits, we need everything to work like clockwork.”
To be effective, medication or intervention must occur within a specified time frame. For example, 69 year old Talley Holshouser from Paducah received the clot-busting medication within three hours of the onset of stroke symptoms, reversing his left-side paralysis. “All I could think of was being paralyzed,” he said, “but they didn’t waste any time.”
Neurologist Jacqueline Carter, M.D., Western Baptist’s stroke specialist, said Holshouser’s successful treatment resulted from his quick arrival in the Western Baptist emergency room. “Every second matters during that critical golden window of three hours,” she said.
The grant is a three-year grant from the Centers For Disease Control through the Kentucky Department for Public Health.
UofL Health Care is a comprehensive medical treatment, research and services organization, combining the extraordinary resources of University Hospital, the James Graham Brown Cancer Center and University of Louisville Physicians. Based in Louisville, UofL Health Care operates the second largest remote presence robotic network in the country and has partnerships with hospitals throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky. For more information, visit www.uoflhealthcare.org.
Western Baptist Hospital is a regional medical and referral center, serving about 200,000 patients a year from four states. With more than 1,700 employees and 240 physicians, it offers a full range of services, including nationally-ranked cardiac and cancer care, diagnostic imaging, women’s and children’s services, surgery, emergency treatment, rehabilitation and more. It is part of Baptist Healthcare System, one of the largest not-for-profit healthcare systems in Kentucky. For more information, see www.westernbaptist.com.
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WBH, UofL partner for stroke program