Lakewood Health System provides Telestroke services

Lakewood Health System now provides Telestroke services to patients thanks to a partnership with St. Cloud Hospital Stroke Center. Telestroke users video conferencing technology to allow a stroke neurologist from St. Cloud Hospital Stroke Center to evaluate a patient in another hospital, view diagnostic scans and recommend treatment.

Through Telestroke, interventions such as intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV tPA) medication can quickly be administered within a four-and-a-half hour window from the onset of symptoms to work best. IV tPA is the only U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved drug for the treatment of acute ischemic srokes.

“At Lakewood Health System patients are able to have a real-time evaluation by a St. Cloud Hospital stroke neurologist via Telestroke,” said Lakewood Acute Stroke Ready Coordinator, Carrie Athmann, RN. “The capabilities of this evaluation allow for faster treatment and improve the patients’ outcome from a stroke.”