Primary Stroke Center in Littleton, Colorado

Stroke Team

What is Stroke?

Rapid Response to Stroke

Interventional Neuroradiology

Care After Stroke

Community Stroke Resources

Contact the Stroke Coordinator

Rapid Response to Stroke

In the case of a stroke emergency Littleton Adventist Hospital has a rapid response procedure followed by hospital emergency staff and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) team responding to the emergency.

• When a stroke alert is activated, the emergency department at Littleton Adventist Hospital receives pre-notification on a designated EMS phone line. This allows physicians or nurses to speak with paramedics before they arrive and communicate about the incoming patient. In addition a "stoke alert" message is sent out over stroke pagers and an an overhead announcement to the emergency team, so that a stroke team is ready and waiting when the stroke patient arrives. 
• An immediate physician evaluation is followed by a CT scan of the brain to determine if the stroke symptoms are from a clot in a blood vessel or from bleeding in the brain. Our emergency department is equipped with a CT scanner to assure quick access to brain imaging. Littleton Adventist Hospital has policies in place that follow Joint Commission and American Stroke Association guidelines to maintain a standard of 25 minutes or less arrival to CT scan for patients with stroke symptoms. 
• When a CT scan confirms a blockage or bleeding in the brain, a 24/7 on call neurologist provides expert consultation and makes recommendations for treatment. Neurosurgeons and neuro-interventionalists are available 24/7 for patients with bleeding in the brain or for who need X-ray guided catheters to retrieve clots, deliver clot busting medication directly to the clot or insertion of devices to control bleeding in the brain.