Bryn Mawr Hospital NCICU Nurse Manager, Arie Hallowell (left), and Nurse Gail Bull (right), prepare to distribute the home ornaments to the staff on the unit.
Former Bryn Mawr Hospital (BMH) patient Elizabeth Croner thanked the staff of the hospital’s Neuro Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (NCICU) for providing exceptional care following a stroke earlier this year. Croner presented her care team with ornaments designed as “homes” reminding them of all the patients they have helped get home over the years.
After Croner’s family brought her to Paoli Hospital’s Emergency Department with stroke symptoms, the Paoli team quickly transferred her to Bryn Mawr Hospital’s highly specialized Neurovascular Lab where she was diagnosed with subarachnoid hemorrhage from an aneurysm. Grahame Gould, MD, neurointerventionalist, performed a non-surgical procedure that uses coils to control the aneurysm. Thanks to her family’s quick response to her symptoms, and rapid assessment, transfer and treatment, Croner had no permanent physical or cognitive deficits from the hemorrhage.
“I can’t stress enough the critical nature of seeking emergency treatment as soon as stroke or aneurysm symptoms appear—this includes numbness in the face or limbs, severe headaches, dizziness and trouble seeing or talking,” said Dr. Gould. “The quicker a patient is seen and treated by a specialized neurointerventional team, the greater their chances for a full recovery.”
In a letter accompanying the houses, Croner thanked the NCICU staff: “I can’t thank everyone enough for providing exceptional care given to me during my time in the NCICU. I was able to get home to my family because of all of you. Hopefully, these houses will remind you of everyone you have helped get home over the years. You are all very special.”
Bryn Mawr Hospital, part of Main Line Health, is part of the Jefferson Neurosciences Network and provides comprehensive care for stroke patients from education to diagnosis and treatment. Bryn Mawr Hospital’s Neurovascular Lab, offers patients innovative, nonsurgical procedures for the treatment of embolic strokes and non-ruptured aneurysms. Bryn Mawr Hospital is the first and only suburban hospital in the southeastern Pennsylvania region to have a university-affiliated neurosciences center for comprehensive stroke care. The Hospital was awarded the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award for their commitment to clinical excellence and patient safety.
As part of the Jefferson Neurosciences Network, Bryn Mawr Hospital has access, leading-edge clinical trials and advanced protocols for the detection and treatment of stroke and other neuroscience disorders.