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When Stafford Hospital Center opens later this month, Stafford's ambulance crews will still take certain patients to the hospital of their choice Date published: 2/14/2009
BY JIM HALL The opening of Stafford Hospital Center later this month won't change the county's policy of allowing eligible ambulance patients to choose where they want to be treated, Stafford County officials say. Stafford's rescue crews will continue to allow "stable" patients to choose Potomac Hospital in Woodbridge rather than Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg if their doctors and medical records are at Potomac, said Rob Brown, fire chief for the Stafford County Fire and Rescue Department. Patients who are seriously ill or injured are taken to the closest appropriate hospital. "We've had a couple of people that were taken to Mary Washington and not Potomac and just went absolutely nuts," Brown said Monday. "If you're a stable patient, and you want to go somewhere else in our service area, you don't have to go to the closest hospital." County officials were reacting to a Free Lance-Star story published last Saturday that said Stafford rescue workers have been instructed to take most patients to the new 100-bed Stafford hospital on U.S. 1 once it opens Feb. 27. "A good system is going to allow that patient the opportunity to go where their doctors are unless their condition warrants otherwise," said Mark Stone, a lieutenant with Stafford Fire and Rescue. Stafford crews will continue to take trauma patients to Mary Washington since it is now a trauma center, Brown said. Crews also will take patients with confirmed heart attacks to Mary Washington for treatment at its cardiac catheterization lab. But officials are undecided about some stroke victims. If a stroke victim does not appear eligible for a clot-busting drug--which should be given within three hours of the onset of the stroke--that patient will be taken to Stafford, said Jim Hill, division chief for Stafford Fire and Rescue. If a stroke victim does appear to be eligible for the clot-busting drug--less than three hours have passed since onset--that patient may go to Mary Washington, where neurologists are on duty and can give the drug, Hill said. If Stafford Hospital Canter has doctors who can administer the drug, the patient will go there. Jim Hall: 540/374-5433
depends on type of stroke, patient health history and event timeline - not insurance - for this debilitating/deadly disease. 2 types: 1) ischemic (~80%) - blood clot or plaque (hardened fat in artery) stops blood flow to an area of brain tissue, depriving it of oxygen, clotbuster given within 3 hrs is most effective, outcomes can drop rapidly thereafter; 2) hemorrhagic stroke - blood vessel in brain bursts (hemorrhages) from high blood pressure or aneurysm (vessel wall weakness). clotbuster could kill...
take people to the nearest hospital!!
take people to the nearest hospital!!
Does the age and insurance of a stroke victim constitute who gets the clot busting drug, I think so... which is a shame.
What happens to the next person needing urgent response while the ambulance is transporting a 30+ min round trip? I realize the county doesn't only have one but if the patients need isn't so urgent they need to get to the nearest hospital why are they using the ambulance?
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