TeleStroke

When Time is Lost, Brain is Lost

A patient shows up in the Cooley Dickinson Hospital Emergency Department with a possible diagnosis of stroke: a slight facial droop, weakness in one arm, slurred speech. The Cooley Dickinson “code grey” team assembles immediately.

Within minutes, the patient receives brain imaging via a CT scan. She is then considered for remote consultation as part of Cooley Dickinson’s collaborative partnership with the Mass General TeleHealth Stroke Center. Meanwhile, the most advanced and secure videoconferencing technology is on standby in the Cooley Dickinson Emergency Department, and more than 100 miles away Mass General neurologists, are available 24/7, to examine this patient at her bedside in Northampton.

In 2015, 145 Hampshire and Franklin county residents benefited from TeleStroke services to diagnose and treat stroke. A TeleStroke consultation ensures that patients who need it get a clot-busting drug within the tight time-frame following a stroke. With stroke, time lost is brain lost. Early treatment can help ensure the best possible recovery.