What started as a regular day for Barbara Brown ended in the St. Bernards Intensive Care Unit.
Earlier this year, Barb, a school counselor at Macarthur Junior High, was chatting with the school nurse when she all of a sudden became very sleepy and then dizzy.
“It was the weirdest feeling,” she says. “One minute I was talking and the next minute, I got very dizzy and sleepy. The school nurse went to take my blood pressure and noticed my lip was drooping. That’s when she rushed me to St. Bernards.”
When Barb got to the emergency room, the medical team rushed her back to a room.
“I remember the room filling with people – nurses, techs and others – calling out orders while the room felt like it was spinning,” she says. “Then the medical team gave me a specific medication and it was like my brain just cleared. After that, I felt completely fine.”
Barbara, who was in the midst of a stroke, was given a “clot buster” drug known as TPA. The drug works best when administered within four hours of a stroke beginning.
The span of time from the minute Barbara’s lip began drooping at school to her receiving the TPA treatment at St. Bernards was 30 minutes.
“I am so grateful to the team in the ER for noticing right away what was happening and getting me the drug I needed,” she says. “Once I received the ‘clot buster,’ I felt like I could go out and play a round of golf!”
Barbara spent 24 hours in the St. Bernards Intensive Care Unit, for the care team to continue to monitor her progress.
“The ICU team was absolutely incredible,” she says. “The attention and care I received was very impressive. My entire experience – from start to finish – was excellent. I’m grateful and thankful to God. I knew I was in good hands.”
Barbara was back to work the following week and continues to do well. She has follow-up visits with the neurologist and remains grateful for her care at St. Bernards.
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“We never know what’s going to happen,” she continues. “We go through life, it’s a normal day, and then something like this hits. It’s comforting to me to know there is a place like St. Bernards right here in Jonesboro, right here at home.”
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