LETTER: NJ legislation could ensure better stroke care

Survivors don't care about 'care'. They want RESULTS. When the hell are you going to deliver results?

LETTER: NJ legislation could ensure better stroke care

Oct. 29 is World Stroke Day. Every two seconds someone in the world dies from stroke, and it is a leading cause of disability.

New Jersey has been a leader in stroke care and was one of the first states to designate Comprehensive and Primary Stroke Centers. These hospitals have resources and processes in place to ensure that they are always prepared to treat stroke. This is especially important because the most effective treatments must be administered in the first few hours.

Although the New Jersey Department of Health approved 52 hospitals to be Primary Stroke Centers and 14 hospitals to be Comprehensive Stroke Centers, the department no longer has resources to make sure those hospitals are still complying with the rules.

A bill currently under consideration by the New Jersey Legislature (S995/A3670) would require hospitals that want to be a Comprehensive or Primary Stroke Center to be certified as such by a national organization, and create a new level of care called Acute Stroke Ready Hospitals for smaller hospitals with fewer resources. It also would require that EMS have protocols in place, so they know what to do and where to go when they are treating a stroke patient. Over 40 hospitals already have certification, creating confusion about which hospitals undergo regular evaluation to ensure compliance and which do not. Hospitals are not required to be stroke centers; the administration of each hospital chooses whether to participate.

It is time for New Jersey to update our system of care for stroke patients so that we remain a leader.

Robert Goodman