The Stroke Unit in Saint Luke’s hospital is celebrating its one year anniversary this week.
The unit has made huge improvements to the care of stroke victims in the Carlow-Kilkenny area by co-ordinating their work with others in the health care profession and indeed the community.
In a briefing on developments in stroke services in Kilkenny on Wednesday, Dr McGovern consultant physician, said that a stroke is now considered a medical emergency and those at the stroke unit want to emphasise the importance of being able to recognise the signs of a stroke.
It was stressed that everyone should be aware of the FAST campaign which tells the signs of stroke. The Face, Arm, Speech and Time message educates people to recognise that a new onset, facial weakness (F ), arm or leg weakness (A ) or speech-disturbance (S ) may be a stroke and that it is (T ) Time to dial 999 for an ambulance. They want to relay the message to act “FAST”, time is brain and dial 999.
The ambulance service is trained in recognising a stroke victim so that they can reduce the time it takes to get to the hospital. Because of the stroke unit, victims can be treated instantly at the hospital, which has achieved a ‘door to needle time’ of up to 60 minutes. Because all nurses and doctors are trained in thrombosis (an injection that stops the effects of a stroke ), patients can make great recoveries.
John Kelly who was also present at the briefing, fell victim to a stroke last June. He was admitted to St Luke’s on a Wednesday and because of the work of the ambulance drivers and those in the hospital, John was released on the following Friday. Speaking about the incident, John said, “I didn’t even know I had had a stroke, my body went numb and I fell but the ambulance crew were great. I don’t remember arriving at the hospital but when I woke up the nursing staff did anything they could do for me.”
The unit provides a separate area with close monitoring of stroke patients. They also provide rehabilitation and have improved diagnostics. Everything that is implemented by the stroke unit is also standardised by European and American guidelines.
At Wednesday’s briefing, Dr Rory Mc Govern emphasised the great achievements the stroke unit has made and what they hope to continue to achieve in the future. He said, “the unit has seen a 28 per cent reduction in death or dependancy from a stroke in the last year.”
Dr Mc Govern recognised the dedication of St Luke’s hospital by saying that St Luke’s has always tried to work as a collective unit by co-ordinating the care of patients with everyone in the medical industry in Kilkenny and Carlow, “from nurses to ambulance drivers and from consultants to primary care facilities, the stroke unit works like a jigsaw. Everyone needs to be involved with each other for it to be successful and that is the way it works in St Luke’s,” he added.
Pat Heady, the HSE’s director of Operations for the HSE south area who was also present at the briefing, acknowledged the work of the unit and St Luke’s in general.
“I would like to say that you here in St Luke’s have the leading edge on where the HSE wants to be. It is great to see the teamwork here and I wish to support everything that is being done here in the future.”
Others who spoke at the meeting were Declan Longergan, training officer with the HSE ambulance services, Anna Flahive, clinical nurse manager of the stroke unit, Dr Tadhg Crowley of the primary care team and Dr Emer Ahern, consultant geriatrician.
