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When it comes to stroke care, critical treatment decisions need to be made quickly. Thanks to advanced telemedicine technology, stroke patients who come to Rush Oak Park Hospital’s Emergency Department now receive accelerated access to on-call neurologists at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

“Having a specially trained stroke neurologist available within minutes through the telemedicine process allows us to offer the highest level of care to our patients,” said Dr. Daniel Noonan, director of emergency medicine at Rush Oak Park Hospital. “This gives us the capability to exceed the requirements for stroke certification, for which we will be submitting an application.”

Earlier this year, Gerald Lordan was the first Rush Oak Park Hospital patient to benefit from the new technology. Lordan has lived in Oak Park since 1982. He’s heavily involved in the Oak Park and River Forest communities — and chooses to receive health care services at the community hospital that’s just blocks from his home.

His primary care physician, Dr. Stephen Humowiecki, is part of Rush Oak Park Physicians’ Group. When Lordan’s wife had a stroke in 2005, it was because of Dr. Humowiecki that the Lordans asked the ambulance to take her to Rush Oak Park Hospital. She was then transferred to Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Last year, when Lordan had his first stroke, he, too, first came to Rush Oak Park Hospital before being transferred downtown.

Lordan recognized that he again was having a stroke earlier this year when his left hand went numb, he couldn’t open or close it, and his voice became hoarse and strained. At the time, he asked his friends to bring him back to Rush Oak Park Hospital. This time new telemedicine technology, InTouch Health’s telemedicine “robot,” enabled him to stay here at his community hospital for treatment.

“That was wonderful,” Lordan said. “I had every confidence that I was getting great medical science care through Rush University Medical Center. But medicine isn’t just a science. It’s a healing process. And a big part of that process is the personal touch.”

The telemedicine “robot” is about 5 feet high and is topped with a monitor and video camera. Within moments, 24 hours per day, seven days per week, it can connect stroke patients through the Internet to on-call stroke experts at Rush University Medical Center. Via monitor, the stroke specialists in Chicago join patients like Lordan and their attending physicians at the bedside in Oak Park. The specialists — in Lordan’s case, his neurologist Dr. Shyam Prabhakaran — see Oak Park patients on their laptops; observe vitals; read test results; and consult with patients, and their nurses and physicians in Oak Park to act fast and determine the best interventions and treatments, including whether they should receive clot-busting drugs, such as tPA.

“A physical exam to determine if a patient should get tPA depends mostly on observation. We can monitor speech, level of consciousness, determine how well the patient can move, and ask the nurse or ER physician to assist in checking sensation and visual fields,” said Dr. Prabhakaran, director, Rush Stroke Program. “It is almost like we are bedside.”

While Dr. Prabhakaran consulted with Lordan, the attending physician in Rush Oak Park Hospital’s emergency department was at Lordan’s bedside, feeling his thyroid gland, taking his blood pressure and reporting results to Dr. Prabhakaran through the stroke “robot.” Together with the technology, they were able to determine a quick course of treatment, and Lordan was able to stay in Oak Park.

“Interacting with Dr. Prabhakaran, once I realized the quality of the video — how clearly we could see each other — it was pretty similar to being in a room together,” Lordan said. “It was the best of both worlds.” Being close to home enabled him to see his primary care physician, his family and his spiritual leaders while hospitalized, which he said aided his healing process.

“Everything here is on a more human scale,” Lordan said. “For me, the healing process is quicker and more thorough, staying here inside Oak Park.”

— Provided by Rush Oak Park Hospital