Telemedicine for Stroke Patients at Fairview

Fairview Hospital is recognized as Critical Access Hospital for its role as a rural health provider. Through its affiliation with Berkshire Health Systems, our patients have access to advanced technologies rarely found in small community hospitals.

In 2006, Berkshire Health Systems invested nearly $1 million to place a 16-slice CT scan adjacent to the Fairview Hospital Emergency Department to strengthen emergency physicians' abilities in diagnosing patients with the clarity and speed that this state-of-the-art technology provides. Each year, over 12,000 patients arrive at Fairview's Emergency Department seeking emergency care. 

Perhaps the greatest value and impact that this new technology provides is to the many patients who arrive at Fairview Hospital with symptoms of stroke. Today, through telecommunications and close collaboration with Berkshire Medical Center, Fairview Hospital's emergency physicians can treat victims of stroke within the 3 hour window of opportunity that may be appropriate to administer t-PA.

Through a generous donation from the McGraw Hill Foundation, Fairview Hospital purchased a state-of-the-art telemedicine system which directly links the patients in Fairview Hospital's Emergency Department to the highly skilled neurology and neurosurgery team at BMC.  When a patient arrives with symptoms of stroke, the Fairview Hospital-Berkshire Medical Center affiliation plays a profound role in the positive, and often lifesaving outcomes.

Once treated and stabilized, patients are admitted to Fairview Hospital or transferred to Berkshire Medical Center or another more specialized facility to receive proper treatment and begin the process of rehabilitation.