HSHS St. Josephs Hospital (Highland) has been officially awarded Emergent Stroke Ready Hospital (ESRH) designation by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH).
Receiving this designation by the State of Illinois is validation to the importance that St. Josephs Hospital (SJH) plays in delivering specialized emerging services to local residents, says Peggy Sebastian, President and CEO, SJH. (SJH) made the conscious decision to apply for this designation because we have the ideal mix of medical professionals, diagnostic capabilities, and treatment programs in place to provide emergency stroke care.
SJH is just one (1) of the very few hospitals in the region that have a state-awarded stroke center designation.
In January 2014, IDPH released the hospital stroke center designation criteria allowing hospitals to voluntarily pursue stroke center designation as an ESRH.
Hospitals in Illinois seeking ESRH designation must meet specific criteria to be eligible for State designation aligning with nationally recognized, evidence-based standards, such as those from the American Heart/Stroke Association and Brain Attack Coalition.
Illinois was one of the first states in the nation to incorporate another level of stroke center into its law. ESRHs - hospitals that diagnose, treat, and transport acute stroke patients to a higher level of care as warranted - must annually attest to IDPH their continued compliance with criteria outlined in the statute and the regulation.
Criteria for ESRH designation is granted on the ability of the hospital to:
Designate a director of stroke care, which may be a clinical member of the hospital staff or the designee of the hospital administrator, to oversee the hospital's stroke care policies, protocols, or procedures (SJHs stroke care leader is Dr. Ryan Johnson, a member of the SJH medical staff and emergency department physician);
Administer thrombolytic therapy, or subsequently developed medical therapies that meet nationally recognized evidence-based stroke protocols or guidelines;
Conduct brain image tests at all times, which shall consider and reflect current nationally recognized evidence-based protocols or guidelines;
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SJH earns stroke care designation