The Story of Mr. Nash and Our Stroke Center
Mr. Nash was at home using the computer when his wife came home. They started talking and his wife told him that he wasn’t making any sense. They knew something was wrong.
She called the doctor who told them to go to Queen of the Valley Hospital right away. They rushed to the emergency room and saw Dr. Richard Young. He asked a few questions to Mr. Nash, who couldn’t make a sentence – the words wouldn’t come out.
Mr. Nash was having a stroke. They took him in for surgery and performed a thrombectomy, which pulled out a large blood clot that was blocking blood flow into his brain.
“It all happened so fast, it’s like everything happened in less than an hour,” recalls Mr. Nash. “I felt some pain, had the surgery, they asked me questions, and then everything was fine.”
This quick life-saving procedure saved precious brain cells for Mr. Nash, allowing him to return to full health.
Dr. Young said, “He needed help and if I had left it alone he would likely lose his ability to communicate for the rest of his life. Given my experience and technical expertise, I knew that I could help Mr. Nash safely.”
The Stroke Center at Emanate Health Queen of the Valley Hospital has the newest Neurointerventional lab in the San Gabriel Valley, along with the latest in technology and equipment for the treatment and management of all neurovascular diseases, including stroke. Dr. Richard Young, is the Medical Director of the Neurointerventional Program and has made stroke care available 24/7, 365 days a year at Queen of the Valley Hospital.
Emanate Health Queen of the Valley Hospital is a Comprehensive Stroke Center and will soon become a Center of Excellence in Neuroscience and Neurology Care. The affiliated hospitals Emanate Health Foothill Presbyterian Hospital and Emanate Health Inter-Community Hospital can give a “clot buster” also known as tPA, and will expedite stroke care with our own inter-hospital ambulance service to Queen of the Valley Hospital.
Mary Konyalian, RN, BSHA, MSN, MA, CNRN, CSSGB, Vice President of Nursing and Neuroscience, said “Leading the entire Neuroscience program (at Emanate Health) has been my vision and inspiration. It gives me great purpose to work every day knowing that I will be an instrument of change in the life of a patient who might have had a permanent disability.”
Mr. Nash could have had a permanent disability and now his life is back to normal. “It’s like a miracle,” he says. “One day I couldn’t speak and now I can drive, I can dance. Thank you very much to everyone at Queen of the Valley Hospital. You’re my heroes.”
