Virtual Neurologist in JCHC ER

Telestroke Technology Transforms Care for Rural Patients

Johnson County Healthcare Center’s (JCHC) Emergency director, Haley Odenbach believes that living in a rural community should never exclude you from having the most advanced medical treatment possible.

Faster Diagnosis and Treatment

At JCHC,  new Telestroke technology allows patients experiencing a stroke to receive faster diagnosis and treatment.

Telestroke is a telemedicine technology that connects stroke patients and their on-site emergency department physicians with board-certified neurologists. This allows for quicker diagnosis and treatment of stroke. Through live audio and video telecommunication, Telestroke allows the neurologist to be virtually at a patient’s bedside within minutes of the patient arriving at the JCHC emergency department.

“Stroke is the quintessential time-sensitive injury.  If we facilitate faster diagnosis and transfer of the patient, we increase the chances of a good outcome.”
Wyoming Medical Center Telestroke Coordinator, Dr. Wheeler

This advanced technology improves outcomes and reducing the long-term impact of a stroke.

Nearly 800,000 people have strokes in the U.S. each year, and most of those patients are experiencing stroke for the first time. During a stroke, an estimated two million brain cells die each minute. With a stroke, the faster the treatment is started, the better the outcome will be.

Time is Critical

Haley Odenbach, the ER supervisor, explains that after a patient arrives with stroke symptoms, the JCHC team begins a 60-minute gold standard process which they refer to as Code Stroke. “We bring a team of people that come together to manage you, including the neurologist via the Telestroke program. The highest priority intervention to have done is a brain scan or CT scan. The goal is for us to have you in the CT scanner within 25 minutes of arriving at the hospital. Next, your doctor and neurologist both evaluate your CT scan. Within 45 minutes of your arrival to the emergency department, a decision is made whether or not to administer clot-busting medicine and subsequent transfer to a larger stroke center.

 “Because we now can begin stroke care so quickly, we can save even more lives than before,”
-     Haley Odenbach, JCHC ER Supervisor

Living in a rural community should never exclude you from having advanced medical treatment. JCHC's Telestroke technology empowers the staff to improve patient care by offering state of the art medical services, right here in Johnson County.