Pocono Medical Center now a certified primary stroke care center

April 25--Two national organizations certified the Pocono Medical Center as the primary stroke care center in the Pocono region last week.

Local emergency medical services workers will now take stroke victims to PMC over other area facilities. Stroke patients will also no longer be transferred out of PMC.

On Jan. 30, the Joint Commission, a national non-profit that accredits healthcare organizations and programs, did an onsite review of the center's stroke-related standards and requirements, said PMC's Geoffrey Roche. The commission evaluated the delivery of stroke care, among other areas, and found that PMC "demonstrated the greatest level of commitment to the care of stroke patients," Roche said. As a result, the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association gave PMC a heart-check mark for advanced certification for primary stroke care centers.

Prior to the certification, PMC was an acute stroke ready hospital, meaning patients could be transferred out. Now, PMC will implement a full-scale stroke education, prevention and treatment program. The program includes a community education to teach emergency medical service providers how to provide the necessary care for stroke victims. It also includes the collection of performance data to evaluate how PMC staff handled a stroke patient and how they can improve moving forward.

Roche said these upgrades are vital because stroke is a leading cause of adult disability and leads to more deaths than all but three diseases nationwide.

"Now residents of the community can remain confident that Pocono Medical Center's team of physicians, nurses, and medical professionals will provide a higher standard of service for stroke patients in our community," said Roche.

Many of the changes are already in place because PMC started preparing for its evaluation more than a year ago. At that time, PMC partnered with the Jefferson Neuroscience Network to give its patients access to resources that the center does not have, like telemedicine.

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