Posted by: thepinetree on 11/01/2012 01:50 PM
Updated by: thepinetree on 11/01/2012 02:02 PM
Expires: 01/01/2017 12:00 AM
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Mark Twain St. Joseph’s Hospital Joins the Mercy Telehealth Network for Stroke Care
Sacramento, CA...The Mercy Telehealth Network, which connects Mercy stroke specialists to stroke patients in emergency rooms at rural and community hospitals, has expanded its network reach with the addition of Mark Twain St. Joseph’s Hospital in San Andreas. The Mercy Telehealth Network’s telestroke service uses InTouch Health wireless remote robots to connect stroke patients to neurologists from the Mercy Neurological Institute in Sacramento. This technology is the only FDA approved telehealth technology available. Stroke specialists at the hub “control centers” remotely control the wireless, mobile robots located at 12 Northern and Central California hospitals in the network, which enable them to examine and talk directly to patients, consult with on-site physicians, assist and help direct therapy and interact directly with the family. The Mercy Telehealth Network hubs are located at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento and Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael.
Starting October 1, the Mercy Telehealth Network began providing physician specialist expertise for stroke services to Mark Twain St. Joseph’s Hospital. Patients who arrive in Mark Twain’s emergency department with stroke systems will be evaluated immediately by a Mercy Neurological Institute Stroke Specialist via the hospital’s new InTouch Health RP-Lite robot.
“Our partnership with the Mercy Telehealth Network is so exciting here in Calaveras County,” said Randy Smart, MD, medical director of the intensive care unit at Mark Twain St. Joseph’s Hospital. “Our patients will now have immediate access and great stroke care from Mercy neurologists during a critical time, right here at Mark Twain St. Joseph’s Hospital.”
Mark Twain’s robot has been named “Lynnie,” after Lynn Gates, a hospital nurse who died of a stroke in 2009. “We received more than 42 suggested names from staff members,” said Peggy Stout, a member of the patient advisory committee for the robot naming. “It came down to choosing a name that had both history and connection to someone who exemplified the values we all strive to embrace.”
Gates was a registered nurse who worked for many years at Mark Twain St. Joseph’s Hospital. She was the director of education and then became manager of surgical services.
Her family still lives in Calaveras County. They were both honored and touched at the opportunity to memorialize Gates by naming the telehealth robot after her, symbolizing the importance of good health and early stroke diagnosis.
Lynnie the robot is five-feet-six-inches tall and has a flat-screen computer monitor “face”, on which patients and family members can see and interact with the physician in real time. A zoom-lens camera and microphone on top of the screen enables the physicians to see and hear patients during examinations, read patient charts, see test results and view certain images.
According to the National Stroke Association, stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds and someone dies of a stroke every four minutes. Stroke is a leading cause of serious, long-term adult disability in the United States with about seven million stroke survivors alive today.
The Mercy Telehealth Network benefits patients by connecting them to highly trained specialists who might not be available in their home town hospitals and allows patients to be treated in their own communities, close to home. The network can help provide consistent and timely delivery in the treatment of acute ischemic stroke. Patients can be evaluated by highly skilled stroke neurologists and when appropriate, receive thrombolytic agents, which must be given within a narrow window after the onset of symptoms.
“Telestroke improves care and provides better access for patients who need specialty care,” said Alan Shatzel, DO, medical director of neurology at the Mercy Neurological Institute. “Our goal is to be at the bedside remotely in 10 minutes. We want to deliver therapy as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
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About Dignity Health
Dignity Health operates eight hospitals in the Greater Sacramento – San Joaquin Service Area - Mercy General Hospital, Mercy Hospital of Folsom, Mercy San Juan Medical Center, Methodist Hospital of Sacramento, Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, Woodland Healthcare, St. Joseph’s Medical Center and Mark Twain St. Joseph’s Hospital; Mercy Home Health, Hospice & Lifeline, as well as Dignity Health Medical Foundation, which includes Mercy Medical Group and the Mercy Imaging Centers. Dignity Health is dedicated to providing compassionate, high-quality and affordable patient-centered care with special attention to the poor and underserved. In 2012, Dignity Health provided $1.6 billion in charitable care and services. For more information, go to mercysacramento.org. ...
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