By LIAM DURKIN
LATROBE Regional Health has reached a standard even higher than gold.
On the world stage no less.
The hospital’s stroke unit celebrated last week, after being awarded platinum status in a globally recognised award for excellence by the World Stroke Organisation Angels.
Latrobe is one of only 10 hospitals across the country to achieve this status.
Platinum status is predicated on multiple performance indicators, such as patient turnaround, scans completed inside specific timeframes, and making sure stroke patients are discharged on treatments to prevent further episodes.
The Angels clearly do not give out this commendation lightly, but felt LRH was deserving of the honour after helping to save the life of local stroke survivor, Clare Lappin.
Ms Lappin found angels of her own from LRH, who responded expediently after she suffered an unexpected stroke in March.
“All of a sudden I couldn’t speak, I came up to talk to my mother, she thought I was doing something funny. My face went funny, then my arm, so we rang the ambulance, they were there in three minutes. I couldn’t walk by that stage, by the time I came here (to LRH) I was really relaxed I have to say, they had everything ready to go, straight in, had a looksee and then treated,” she recalled.
Amazingly, the work of LRH was of such efficiency, Ms Lappin had blood-flow restored to her brain in less than an hour, and was back home the very next day.
A vocal coach by profession, Ms Lappin sang the praises of the hospital’s stroke unit team.
“So very grateful, they worked so beautifully, and I’m here because of them,” a clearly appreciative Ms Lappin said.
“It was comfortable, I wasn’t scared, 48 minutes apparently I was treated, thanks to them, amazing.”
Ms Lappin also felt compelled to write the hospital a letter to formally thank them.
LRH’s stroke unit is led by Janet May, who said the platinum award was a huge honour.
“We’re really honoured to win this award, it gives our team great recognition of the commitment they’ve got to delivering really high stroke-quality care to our patients,” she said.
“It’s not just an award recognising one team, it supports the whole spectrum, from Ambulance Victoria to the ED team, with their rapid response, the radiographers getting through CT scans and sending images down to neurologist, to the incredible work that happens up here on our line and other key units.
“At the end of the day, it’s our patients that benefit and that’s what really counts.”
Kim Malkin from the World Stroke Organisation Angels was on hand for the presentation.
“The award is an international award that benchmarks hospitals for their performance in stroke,” she said.
“This is to award hospitals and recognise them for treating patients, it also really awards teamwork because these awards wouldn’t be possible at all if it wasn’t for the fantastic teamwork, stroke has to be treated by multidisciplinary teams.
“The fact that Latrobe as a regional hospital has managed to achieve this award is really significant.”
Ms Malkin urged people to know the signs of stroke, with the F.A.S.T acronym still the best identification (Face dropping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulty, Time to call 000).
“Stroke is a medical emergency always, and it’s really important hospitals can achieve timely treatment,” she said.
“Every minute that a stroke is left untreated, a patient can lose 1.9 billion neurons a minute.”
