Nine emergency paramedic services in Eastern Ontario, including Hastings-Quinte, are conducting a study that could increase life-saving chances for stroke patients.
It has to do with whether or not a stroke patient is taken to the closest hospital first; or “directly” to a stroke centre to get the special “clot-busting” drug. The study will determine whether or not the length of time allowed to get the patient to hospital will be extended, thereby getting more stroke victims to the special centres. Doug Socha of the Hastings-Quinte EMS, lead paramedic on the study, is optimistic. Socha hopes for some results in the study in about six months.
