Adventist Health White Memorial celebrates new treatment service

The Adventist Health White Memorial Hospital in Boyle Heights is celebrating its new designation as a Comprehensive Stroke Center (CSC) by the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Agency. This is considered the highest level of stroke certification available, which means the hospital can receive 911 patients experiencing large vessel occlusions (LVOs) for rapid evaluation and potential thrombectomy. 

The location of the hospital makes this, literally, a life-changing experience for the East L.A. community and surrounding neighborhoods, since strokes could be deadly and the time to get to the nearest hospital is paramount. 

Stephanie Reyes was recently saved by the team at White Memorial thanks to the quick response. Her brother, German Reyes, said that when it was time for dinner, their mother kept calling Stephanie, and she wasn’t answering.

Once she opened the door, she found her on the floor, unconscious, explained German. “Basically, everything was a blur, and I don’t know what really happened,” said Stephanie in a video filmed by Adventist Health.

Dr. Zachary Bernard, director of neuroendovascular surgery at White Memorial, said when Reyes arrived at the hospital, they performed some brain images and found out she had an aneurysm that bled in her head. 

“She had a spontaneous rupture of her cerebral aneurysm. So it's something that can be life-threatening in everyone,” he said. “About a third of patients don't make it to the hospital, and about another third die while they're in the hospital.”

Bernard said once they performed imaging of her brain, she was taken to the cath lab and had platinum coils used to make the aneurysm go away.

“She had pretty much the best outcome she could have hoped for,” he said.

Bernard said aneurysms aren’t significantly common or something they often deal with at the hospital, compared to heart diseases or heart attacks. 

“These kinds of aneurysms that rupture don't happen all that commonly,” he said. “In the U.S., probably about, somewhere between 25,000 to 30,000 people a year have aneurysm ruptures in their brain.”

Stephanie’s procedure took about three hours and recovery at the hospital was about 12 days. She never lost movement in her body or needed extra care. 

Working for underserved communities

White Memorial recognizes that when a stroke occurs, time is everything and every second counts. For them, this designation reflects the strength and readiness of White Memorial’s Neurology and Neurosurgical teams, supported by advanced technology, specialized training, and coordinated protocols designed to assess and treat complex stroke cases quickly. 

Bernard said he started the process of making White Memorial a CSC about two years ago. Despite the fact that there are 25 CSCs in the LA area, he realized there was nothing in the region, leaving close to two million people without access to vital care.

He said one of the reasons why they didn’t exist in the area is that the areas where they exist have a better payer mix. 

“So the closest places would be going up to Kaiser Sunset, over to Cedars-Sinai in the west, or going up to Huntington Hospital in the north and then Whittier Hospital down south,” he said. 

Now, White Memorial can compete adequately with these other centers and can take care of more patients in the region. 

Additionally, White Memorial has also earned the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award for the 11th consecutive year. This recognition highlights the expertise, collaboration and dedication of the hospital’s multidisciplinary stroke care team, all working together to improve outcomes and enhance the health of the community they serve.

Hospital discusses recent protest

Despite celebrating the recognition and hard work of the team at White Memorial, the hospital is well aware of the recent protest outside the hospital. Advocates, health care workers and activists demanded that White Memorial uphold the privacy rights of immigrant detainees. 

Grace Hauser, spokesperson for White Memorial, said this is false information to cause unnecessary fear and anxiety. 

White Memorial said in a statement that their mission calls to care for every person who enters through their doors, including patients taken by ICE. 

“At Adventist Health White Memorial, ICE is not involved in treatment decisions; those decisions are made between patients and their care teams. We have clear policies and procedures in place to protect patient privacy and clinical decision-making, upholding HIPAA and privacy rights for every patient, and enabling communication with family members,” reads the statement. “As long as ICE continues to bring patients to our hospital, we will continue to provide compassionate, respectful care that is centered on the health and safety of each individual.”