Charlottesville, Va.-based UVA Health, community healthcare organizations and EMS agencies in seven Central Virginia counties announced via a press release on Feb. 13 that they are partnering to expand healthcare services in rural communities, including services for patients experiencing a stroke.
The press release states that “Backed by a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the federal Health Resources & Services Administration [HRSA], the new program will provide education and training opportunities on stroke, pre-hospital emergency care, and post-hospital follow-up care for paramedics, emergency medical technicians, nursing and EMS trainees, community health workers and other rural healthcare providers. Program partners include EMS agencies and community health organizations in Buckingham, Culpeper, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Nelson and Orange counties. Additionally, ambulances in these counties will be outfitted with UVA Health’s iTREAT mobile telemedicine system.”
Further, “Through iTREAT, paramedics who suspect patients are having a stroke are connected through a secure live video link to UVA’s specially trained stroke neurologists and emergency medicine physicians. The UVA physicians directly speak to and examine the patient with the EMS provider while the patient is being transported in the ambulance, with the goal of leading to faster treatment times once patients arrive at the hospital. A fast diagnosis is crucial because there is a narrow window to provide the most effective medications and procedures for ischemic strokes, which are frequently caused by a blood clot in the brain. Clot-busting drugs are only safe and effective if delivered within three to four-and-a-half hours of when symptoms begin. Additionally, retrieving the clot from intracranial blood vessels, or “thrombectomy” procedures, are also time-sensitive and can only be done in specially selected patients.”
Training, according to the release, will be focused in three areas including:
- Prehospital emergency care: The training will focus on paramedicine for paramedics and other emergency medical service providers to reduce 911 calls for non-urgent medical needs.
- Stroke education: Blue Ridge Health District and Central Virginia Health Services in Buckingham will train doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals through online continuing education on stroke and cardiovascular disease. The UVA Office of Telemedicine will assist in the online training.
- Telehealth training: Paramedics, doctors, and nurses will receive educational training on integrating telehealth technology into their care plans.
Additionally, emergency medical technician students at the Charlottesville-Albemarle Technical Education Center and nursing students at UVA Wise will receive training.
Nina Solenski, M.D., a stroke neurologist at UVA Health’s Comprehensive Stroke Center and the program’s director “We are quite grateful to HRSA to have this opportunity to care for our surrounding communities by enhancing the capabilities of paramedics and community health workers in our area. This will help us render excellent care not only for sudden strokes but also for the prevention and follow-up treatment of stroke. This is urgently needed. Buckingham County, for example, has nearly twice the rate of stroke deaths in non-Hispanic Black individuals compared to the national average. Reversing these types of disparities in our own surrounding communities is our goal and it’s a team effort with all different types of healthcare providers.”
