Lake Charles Memorial Starts TeleStroke Partnership with Tulane Medical Center

Lake Charles Memorial Health System launched its innovative InTouch TeleStroke program in partnership with Tulane Medical Center. The program is a form of telemedicine that provides Lake Charles Memorial patients with enhanced in-house stroke care and 24-hour access to Tulane Medical Center’s specialized stroke experts.

The collaboration brings together innovative TeleStroke equipment and specialized care from Tulane’s Joint Commission-certified comprehensive stroke center. Using TeleStroke system carts and a two-way live video, audio and image sharing system, consulting stroke neurologist and neurosurgeons from Tulane Medial Center can evaluate a Lake Charles Memorial patient in real time to diagnose a stroke and determine the best course of action.

“During a stroke, time is of the essence, because time lost is brain lost,” says Dr. Jon Gray, Lake Charles Memorial Emergency Department Medical Director. “Tulane’s TeleStroke network provides on-demand access to stroke experts within minutes of entering our emergency room and reduces treatment time.”

Together, Lake Charles Memorial and Tulane Medical Center provide quality care to stroke patients and follow national standards and guidelines that can significantly improve outcomes for stroke patients.

As part of the TeleStroke partnership, Lake Charles Memorial stroke patients will have streamlined access to Tulane Medical Center when needed for advanced care.

“We are committed to enhancing healthcare in the community, and we want to keep Lake Charles Memorial patients close to home whenever possible,” says Sheryl Martin-Schild, M.D., PhD, Vascular Neurologist and Medical Director of the Tulane Stroke Program. “Stroke patients will likely stay at Lake Charles Memorial, but it’s comforting for patients, family and staff to know specialized care is available nearby at Tulane Medical Center, when necessary.”

About Lake Charles Memorial Health System www.lcmh.com/stroke

Lake Charles Memorial Health System is the region's largest not-for-profit, community healthcare system, serving the healthcare needs of Southwest Louisiana. Memorial Health System is locally-owned and operated by a Board of Trustees from the community it serves. The hospital is a shareholder of Voluntary Hospitals of America (VHA), and is fully licensed by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. CEO Larry Graham joined Lake Charles Memorial Health System in 2006, bringing more than 30 years of experience in healthcare administration.

The only full-service healthcare system in Lake Charles, Memorial was established in 1952. Today, our health system includes 298 licensed beds on our Oak Park campus, 38 beds at our Women's campus, 29 beds at our long-term care specialty hospital, outpatient clinics serving uninsured and under insured at the W.O. Moss Memorial Health Clinic, and over 90 employed physicians and specialists that are a part of the Memorial Medical Group.

As the healthcare market leader in the Lake Charles region, our success can be attributed to a dedicated team of over 2,800 employees and 300 staff physicians representing more than 60 specialties and subspecialties, as well as the largest emergency services department in southwest Louisiana. Memorial is also the area's only teaching facility for physicians through the Memorial/LSUHSC Family Medicine Residency Program, and serves as a clinical training site for nursing, medical technology and radiologic technology students through various universities, including McNeese State University.

About Tulane Medical Center www.tulanehealthcare.com

Tulane Medical Center is an acclaimed teaching, research and medical facility serving the greater New Orleans area. TMC has more than 500 credentialed physicians who provide leading-edge care, ranging from primary to tertiary to quaternary. Facilities in the New Orleans area include Tulane Medical Center, Tulane Lakeside Hospital for Women and Children, Tulane Pediatrics, Tulane Cancer Center, Tulane Transplant Institute, Tulane Multispecialty Center Metairie, Tulane Multispecialty Center Uptown, Tulane Multispecialty Center Downtown and the Tulane Institute of Sports Medicine. TMC is a partnership jointly owned by HCA and Tulane University.

About InTouch Health

InTouch Health is the leader in providing telemedicine solutions for high-acuity applications where doctors are required to take immediate clinical action. The InTouch Telemedicine System is the industry’s only fully integrated end-to-end solution encompassing clinical data management, medical imaging, 24/7 technical support, clinical consulting services and the SureCONNECT® cloud-based infrastructure. By removing time and distance barriers, this System effectively enables physicians to perform real-time consults with hospital patients through a host of purpose-built telemedicine devices. Deployed at nearly 1,000 hospital locations on six continents, the InTouch Telemedicine System is now in use by 15 percent of all U.S. hospitals.