Emergency Medicine
It was a sudden fall in his home that led Dan Sodomin, 64 of West Rockhill Township, down a fast path to symptoms of stroke on May 12, 2016. Dan’s body was physically unable to respond to his mental commands, leaving him shouting for his wife’s attention. His wife, Barb, a medical assistant with Grand View Surgical Associates, recognized the loss of movement in Dan’s entire left side and face right away and called an ambulance.
The ambulance transported him to the Grand View Health Department of Emergency Medicine, where Ted Watson, MD, and his team took quick action to administer tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) in order to dissolve the clot and improve blood flow to his brain. Shortly after, Dr. Watson decided Dan was in need of further treatment, utilizing Grand View’s on-site helipad to airlift Dan to a nearby regional center.
Thanks to the quick action from Dan’s wife, to the Emergency Medicine team, to the advanced extraction, Dan was able to undergo a procedure with a neurology specialist to remove the clot. Dan returned back where it all began at Grand View for physical therapy and rehabilitation, which helped him get back to work as an electrician and to his family as a loving husband and father.
“I am so grateful for Dr. Watson and the entire emergency team,” said Dan. “I arrived by ambulance and everyone jumped into action. I was in the helicopter before I even knew I was going into the helicopter. Now that was fast!”