WALLA WALLA, WA, Feb. 7, 2012 – Walla Walla area residents facing a potential or actual acute stroke will benefit from a recently formed partnership between the Swedish Neuroscience Institute (SNI) Acute TeleStroke Program and Walla Walla General Hospital (WWGH) that will bolster WWGH’s stroke support services through 24/7, around-the-clock access to SNI’s nationally recognized stroke team experts via real-time, telemedicine-based technology.
This TeleStroke partnership provides an as-needed link between the Emergency Center team at WWGH and the comprehensive team of stroke specialists based at the Swedish/Cherry Hill campus campus in Seattle. With the help of a secure, video-conferencing network, members of SNI’s Stroke Program are able to quickly perform ‘virtual’ bedside neurological evaluations that allow them to examine patients, review brain images and quickly select the best acute stroke treatments in collaboration with WWGH Emergency Center physicians.
WWGH sees more than 125 patients a year who are experiencing signs and symptoms of TIA or Stroke. Many of those patients may qualify for the TeleStroke program. “We have the equipment and team, now we have the expertise of the physicians and staff at Swedish to help better serve our patients,” said Jackie Fullerton, vice president for patient- care services at WWGH. “The difference this can make for our patients and their families is huge.”
In fact, the first week that the program went live ...
