Up until a few years ago, San Antonio was known as one of the worst places in Texas to suffer from a stroke. Patients were routinely transferred to Houston, Austin and even smaller communities where superior stroke services were available.
However, stroke care in San Antonio has been raised to a level of excellence today because of the efforts of Baptist Health System through the creation of The Brain & Stroke Network. Baptist Health System saw the need and undertook the responsibility of gathering the resources and putting in place the elements needed to provide round-the-clock stroke care in San Antonio.
This care is now available across the city at each of the five geographic locations of the Baptist hospitals. So, wherever you are when a stroke occurs, you’re never too far from the time-sensitive treatment you need to prevent permanent brain damage.
“The Brain & Stroke Network at Baptist Health System is available to patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Suzanne DelBoccio, vice president of neurosciences and orthopedics at the system. “Our team is ready to diagnose and treat the stroke rapidly, including following the American Heart Association’s target time to administer ‘clot buster’ medications of under 60 minutes of arrival in the ED or performing interventional procedures to prevent further irreversible damage. And we are proud to be the first health system in the city to earn Primary Stroke Center certification at each of our hospitals from the Joint Commission.”
One of the pivotal components of making The Brain & Stroke Network a reality was forging a partnership with the Department of Neurosurgery at the UT Health Science Center, whose surgeons provide 24/7, on-call care to all Baptist hospitals. St. Luke’s Baptist Hospital, located in the South Texas Medical Center, serves as the hub of The Brain & Stroke Network, where Baptist has invested millions of dollars in state-of-the art neurological surgical equipment so that patients needing surgery receive the fast, effective, interventional treatment needed to prevent debilitating side effects that can happen when a stroke is left untreated for too long.
Because stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States, The Brain & Stroke Network includes a strong educational component to teach adults and children alike about the signs and symptoms of stroke, stressing the need to act F.A.S.T. (Face, Arms, Speech, Time) – a quick test for signs of symptoms – and call 911 immediately.
Just as Baptist’s Heart Alert program significantly reduces the time it takes to treat patients suffering from a heart attack, The Brain & Stroke Network reduces the time it takes to make a dramatic impact on the treatment of stroke. Physicians from emergency medicine, neurology, neurosurgery, cardiology, vascular, and interventional radiology as well as nursing, rehabilitation and other support services are available to provide complete, comprehensive evidenced based, best practice for stroke care.
Post-stroke care is equally important. Therefore the network provides a robust rehabilitation program that consists of physical therapy, occupational therapy, rehabilitation nursing, nutrition counseling and psychological support. These comprehensive stroke rehabilitation programs are centered at St. Luke’s Baptist Hospital and at Baptist Medical Center, and give patients full access to specialists and services including “Starting Now” Stroke Education Classes for patients and caregivers.
Other services that strengthen the network even more include ACCESS Baptist Call Center, AirLife helicopter air ambulance service for fast transport, even from outlying areas, and e-guardian telemedicine, which enables specialists to assess, diagnose and direct treatment for patients remotely. E-Guardian is the first active monitoring service in San Antonio providing real-time health care from a distance, using telephones, videoconferencing, digital imaging and other technology.
