State gets $4.8M grant to improve stroke care in rural Montana

NOT GOOD ENOUGH! 'Care' is in the title,NOT results or cure. The tyranny of low expectations in full display here.

State gets $4.8M grant to improve stroke care in rural Montana

The state has received a $4.8 million grant to launch Mission: Lifeline Stroke, an effort to coordinate stroke care in Montana, improving outcomes for stroke patients, especially people in rural communities.

The grant is from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, supporting health efforts around the world. The trust gave the state $6 million earlier this year for defibrillators and has awarded other grants to improve health over the years.

Stroke is the fifth-most prevalent cause of death in Montana, officials said, adding there are more than 1,800 strokes annually attributing to nearly 420 deaths. It requires time-sensitive treatment to save lives and reduce lasting disability. 

Kathy Rogers, an executive vice president with the American Heart Association, said it builds upon a mission lifeline program launched in Montana in 2014 to provide lifesaving care for people with heart attacks.

She said strokes, like heart attacks, are time sensitive emergencies and the the lifeline model works through all phases of care.

“This gives patients the best possible chance of survival and recovery to an independent quality of life,” she said. 

Primary stroke centers in Montana are in urban areas, leaving great distances for people to travel and risk ineligibility for care within the limited treatment time window, officials said in a news release. A patient having a stroke in Plentywood has over a five-hour drive to the nearest primary stroke center in Billings.

Rogers said this money will allow the state to expand, improve and connect acute stroke care. This will result in an integrated system that brings together hospitals, emergency medical services and first responders, regulatory agencies, state and local government and payers.

This will include coordination of treatment guidelines for EMS and hospital personnel, plans for rapid transport and/or inter-facility transfer of stroke patients and strategies for reducing barriers to quality telemedicine and rehab care, officials said.

Walter Panzirer, trustee of Helmsley trust, said rural health care is one of the group’s priority areas and that in the last 10 years it has invested $460 million to improve health care in the upper seven midwestern states.

“Our aim is to bridge gaps in health care for people who live in rural areas or sparsely populated areas,” he said. “It’s my belief it doesn’t matter where you live … that everyone should have the opportunity for the same high quality health care.”

Panzirer said the trust fund knows that strokes are a major killer and disabler of much of the rural population. He said the goal is to cut the time so that people in rural areas can have the same positive outcome as people in urban areas.

 

He said the group has brought Telestroke to Montana, which allows for assessment of stroke patients over video, started media campaigns and held conferences.

"We are proud of the solid foundation we built here in Montana and we are very excited to work with the Helmsley Foundation and American Heart Association over the next three years to further enhance and expand this system of care," he said.

Holzman said the new lifeline program will strengthen collaboration across the state.

The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has committed more than $2.8 billion to charitable purposes since 2008.

Reporter Phil Drake is our eye on the state capitol. For tips, suggestions or comment, he can be reached at 406-231-9021 or pdrake@greatfallstribune.com. To support his work, subscribe today and get a special offer.