Stanford-ValleyCare recognized as primary stroke center

Stanford Health Care-ValleyCare has achieved a major milestone in its efforts to provide the best care possible for patients suffering from strokes, receiving certification as a primary stroke center by national quality accrediting group The Joint Commission.

Not just a recognition that the hospital can keep on its mantle, the distinction as a primary stroke center means that the hospital will now be allowed to accept ambulances transporting stroke patients.

“This designation allows us to provide a high level of neurovascular care to the many stroke patients in the region who need it most,” Rick Shumway, president and CEO of Stanford-ValleyCare, said in a statement. “As a primary stroke center, we are already seeing the positive impact this is having on the community. Patients are receiving care closer to home, allowing them faster treatment and better outcomes.”

In order to achieve the certification, the hospital underwent a rigorous on-site review in August, where Joint Commission inspectors measured the hospital in more than 100 standards of care including, door-to-CT scan times, how quickly patients receive “clot-busting” medication and the quality of care administered, according to hospital officials.

A milestone sought by the hospital since launching its comprehensive stroke care program, Stanford-ValleyCare staff say the certification will save vital time that can mean the difference between recovery, disability or death when treating a stroke.

“This allows us to provide prompt treatment to local stroke patients,” said Dr. Prashanth Krishnamohan, medical director of Stanford-ValleyCare’s neurology and stroke program. “Previously, even someone whose stroke happened right outside our door would have been taken to another primary stroke center in the Bay Area for evaluation and treatment. That could mean a 15-minute to one-hour drive in an ambulance.”

Krishnamohan added that patients will have 24/7 access to stroke-trained neurologists any time of the day or night.

To make a donation to the ValleyCare Charitable Foundation or learn more about ValleyCare’s efforts to become a stroke center, visit the website.

In other recent hospital news, Stanford-ValleyCare has some leadership changes to its Board of Directors, with the announcement that John Sensiba has been elected board chair, and chief of orthopedics Dr. Aaron Salyapongse has been appointed to serve on the board for the first time.

Also joining the ranks of the hospital’s leadership team is Kyle Wichelmann, who has been appointed as ValleyCare’s new chief financial officer.