Page 4 - Simi Valley Hospital | Your Health | Spring 2013

Creating a community of
Delivering a stronger response to ‘brain attack’
Just like a blocked artery in the heart
causes a heart attack, a blocked blood
vessel in the brain is responsible for
87 percent of all strokes (known as
ischemic strokes). In addition, just as “time
is muscle” for heart attack treatment, time
is critical in stroke treatment to save as
many brain cells as possible.
In parallel with its heart program,
Simi Valley Hospital is working toward
obtaining certification fromThe Joint
Commission—the major hospital-
accrediting body in the U.S.—to become
a primary stroke center.
The certification is expected to be
received this spring. Already, Simi Valley
Hospital has met the criteria to be included
in Ventura County Stroke Network, which
means that local patients who have a stroke
are transported to the hospital for care.
Kristen Shorts, Simi Valley Hospital’s
Emergency Department clinical educator
and the hospital’s stroke coordinator,
outlined some of the elements of the
certified stroke program:
wwA “code stroke” response team
has been in place in the Emergency
Department since November 2012.
That means whenever a stroke patient
arrives at the hospital, a specific
team of physicians and other health
professionals will be summoned to help
with immediate care for the patient.
WHEN it comes to health
concerns, heart disease ranks near the
top of the list for most people. That’s
not surprising, given the fact that
heart disease is the number-one killer
of both men and women in the U.S.
Simi Valley Hospital is taking on
the issue of heart disease in a bold
new way with the development and
expansion of a comprehensive
heart care program. As it
develops, the program will
link a variety of existing
points of care in the
hospital with new services,
as well as expanding
education about health
topics throughout the local
area. Ultimately, the goal is to
offer an integrated, broad heart
health program that will result in
a healthier community.
“As the only hospital and the
largest health care provider in
our community, we believe that
we have a responsibility to
offer services that help people
prevent heart disease and to
provide a variety of programs
to treat heart disease when it does
happen,” said KimMilstien, president
and CEO of Simi Valley Hospital.
Sharing the message
From the standpoint of prevention,
Milstien said the hospital will be
addressing a broad spectrum of the
habits and behaviors that contribute
to heart disease.
“Obesity, smoking, diabetes and
other factors take away from a person’s
quality of life and put them at high
risk for both heart disease and other
potentially life-threatening diseases
and conditions,” Milstien said. “A
lot of these issues are the result of
choices people make—and it is our
mission to help people learn how to
make better, more healthy choices.”
The hospital already offers classes
and programs to help people create
a more balanced, healthy lifestyle,
and Milstien said there are plans
to expand that even further by
partnering with local organizations.
As an example, she said that the
hospital is looking at offering
healthy cooking demonstrations
for local youth.
“We like to say that, at Simi Valley
Hospital, we’re friends and neighbors
caring for friends and neighbors,”
Milstien said. “There is no better
way to do that than to go out to
workplaces, senior centers, churches,
4 q your health