Windsor Essex District Stroke Centre

Located at: Hotel Dieu Grace Hospital

Population Served:
Windsor and Essex Counties

Programs and Services:
As the designated District Stroke Centre for this region, HDGH has been identified as the benchmark for stroke care across the country for average length of stay. The Centre is changing the way we look at the delivery of care for stroke patients. The District Stroke Centre team and Steering Committee work collaboratively with many local agencies and disciplines to plan and implement strategies for improving stroke care in response to locally identified needs and priorities.

Stroke is a devastating disease, a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, and one of the most expensive diseases to treat. There are more than 88,000 persons living with stroke in Ontario. Because of the vital services offered at HDGH, and its central location, services for stroke and TIA patients are coordinated through the hospital, improving cost efficiencies and delivering better care to patients in Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent, and Sarnia-Lambton. Further, the DSC has staff members working at each hospital in Windsor Essex to support best practice stroke care.

HDGH has neurologists on staff directing expert care for area stroke patients; Dr. Michael Winger is the physician lead and Medical Director for the DSC. The dedicated and expert multidisciplinary stroke-care team has strongly supported consistent, evidence-based care for our stroke patients. This has resulted in enhanced clinical practices, new imaging technologies, new treatments, increased awareness, improved prevention and rehabilitation programs, and better education – all of which are having a positive impact on stroke outcomes here. So successful is the stroke pathway at HDGH that other health centres from as far away as Australia are looking at our program as a model.

The DSC also works to improve access to vascular disease prevention and intervention for urgent cases. As part of the Ontario Stroke System, the DSC is linked to regional and other district stroke centres, researchers, specialists and educational resources. Regular contact with these groups enables consistency in knowledge, management, education, communication and practice in stroke care. Andrea Drummond, the District Stroke Centre Coordinator, and Dr. Winger tap into resources and personnel who are positioned to support local area efforts to implement stroke best practices. Through these connections the DSC can participate in and facilitate stroke research, and support local research projects.

Research clearly indicates that prevention measures, stroke treatments and good health practices help prevent death, reduce disability, and save billions of dollars in healthcare costs. HDGH, in conjunction with Windsor Regional Hospital, Leamington District Memorial Hospital, and other community agencies, is committed to providing a comprehensive best practice program to help improve stroke outcomes, while providing a continuum of care, support and critical therapies for victims of stroke and their families.

Stats and Facts:

• 2010/2011 Overview of Activities
• 2009/2010 Overview of Activities

Education
The DSC works with its partners to co-plan customized professional and public education. Since its start-up in 2003, the DSC has provided education to health care providers for the following:

• Acute and Rehabilitation management of stroke
• Tips and tools for everyday living (for frontline workers in long-term care)
• Videocasts of stroke rounds from London Health Sciences Centre
• Mentoring opportunities
• Online learning

Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
The DSC:

• Works with organizations to build consistency in health promotion
• Provides prevention guidelines and algorithms for management of risk factors
• Supports efforts to integrate the prevention and management of chronic diseases
• Offers an urgent TIA and Stroke Prevention Clinic at HDGH. Here, TIAs are confirmed with rapid access to diagnostics and timely interventions to prevent stroke. Clinic staff are also available to discuss courses of action with physicians who choose to manage TIAs independently. Milder acute stroke patients are also provided multi-disciplinary, case management education and support post-discharge through the Stroke Prevention Clinic
• The TIA Clinic expedites access for patients in need of carotid endarterectomy or stenting, and receives referrals for same from across LHIN 1. This has resulted in shorter wait times for patients requiring this treatment.
• 577 patients were seen by the TIA/Stroke Prevention Clinic in 2006 alone a number that continues to climb.

Emergency and Acute Care

• An acute stroke protocol facilitating stroke thrombolysis
• An Acute Stroke Clinical Pathway supporting current best practice, multi-disciplinary stroke care
• A Neurology Unit providing high level multi-disciplinary expert acute stroke care
• On-site CT, MRI, interventional radiological, neurosurgical and vascular surgery services

Rehabilitation

• A Stroke Rehabilitation Nurse and Stroke Resource Nurse who case manage those stroke patients with complex needs
• The DSC works with the regional stroke rehabilitation coordinator and local agencies to advance the quality and accessibility of rehabilitation care, provide education and educational resources based on best practices in stroke rehabilitation

Community Re-Integration and Long-term Care

• The Stroke Rehabilitation Nurse and Stroke Resource Nurse continue to case manage those patients post-discharge in community and long-term care
• Support and facilitation of a Young Stroke Survivors Support Group
• The DSC is working with the regional stroke coordinator for long-term care and community re-integration and local agencies to improve the experience and care for stroke survivors after discharge from hospital

Committees:

Windsor Essex District Stroke Centre Steering Committee

Contact Information:
Andrea Drummond R.N., B.Sc.N
Coordinator
519.973.4411 x3082
adrummond@hdgh.org

Useful Links:

Health Action Windsor Essex
Hotel Dieu Grace Hospital
Windsor Essex Public Health Unit
Windsor Essex Cardiac Wellness Centre
Stroke Recovery Association Windsor Essex
Windsor Regional Hospital