Martini lauds Palm Drive stroke care at Taft Street

SEBASTOPOL — On March 3, at about 2:40 p.m., former Santa Rosa
Mayor and Taft Street Winery owner Mike Martini’s world flipped
over.
“Imagine your worst possible drunk as an adolescent, and then
spin on a baseball bat. Double that and you’ll get an idea how
dizzy I was,” he said to a gathering of Palm Drive staffers at a
party last Friday celebrating Palm Drive’s recent certification as
a nationally recognized stroke care facility.
Martini and his wife Susan were eating at a Sebastopol
restaurant when his stroke hit. He became unresponsive, and
realizing that “time was of the essence,” Susan took the steps that
saved Martini’s life.
“I told him he had 30 seconds to answer me or I was calling
911,” Susan said.
Twenty minutes later, Martini was in the care of the Palm Drive
emergency room.
According to Martini, hospital staff made all the appropriate
responses so that by the time he had been transferred to a facility
in San Francisco, he was ready to go home.
He was transferred back to a facility in Santa Rosa, where they
“expressed consternation and asked: Why are you here?” Martini
said.
To celebrate his new-found connection with Palm Drive and its
staff, Martini invited a cadre of hospital staffers, administrators
and board members to his tasting room to thank them for their care
and draw attention to the facility’s new status as a certified
stroke center.
In June, the Palm Drive Health Care Distirct received
notification that it had become a Primary Stroke Center, joining
Kaiser as one of only two hospitals in the county to meet national
standards for treatment of stroke patients.
The certification means the hospital meets or exceeds national
standards set by the American Stroke Association and the American
Heart Association for treatment of stroke patients.
Palm Drive’s medical personnel receive advanced training in
stroke care and the use of clot-busting drugs, and neurologists are
available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
A stroke patient — such as Martini, who went to his local
hospital during a critical time in his event — can be examined,
diagnosed and begin treatment within one hour of arriving at the
emergency room.
The main engine behind the hospital’s newfound calling as a
stroke center, is the addition of Sebastopol resident Dr. Allan
Bernstein to its staff.
Bernstein, who grows apples on property not far from Taft
Street’s tasting room on Occidental Road and Barlow, has been the
preeminent neurologist in the Bay Area for more than 30 years.
He was instrumental in the development of Kaiser’s stroke care
program, and was happy in his brief retirement.
“My 2-month retirement ended abruptly at Palm Drive,” Bernstein
said, as he addressed the gathering in the late afternoon sun.
“It’s an incredible team with a seamless arrangement.”
Bernstein complimented his co-workers, saying that “It’s fun to
walk in the door,” and “easy too, after being a stroke director at
Kaiser.
“There are no turf battles. All we needed was a plan to make it
happen,” he added. “Thanks for making it work. No conflict of who’s
going to do what when.”
The Palm Drive Health Care District board president Nancy was on
hand as well.
“I want to echo some of these comments and broaden them,” she
said. “It’s the team of the hospital that makes it work. The
success (is the result) of not a single board member or donor, but
the community. A community that works together works.”
Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. and the
leading cause of serious, long-term disability. Most strokes are
caused by blood clots that shut off the supply of blood to areas of
the brain.
The brain cells quickly begin to die unless clot-busting drugs
are administered within three hours of the first stroke
symptoms.
Fortunately for Martini, his wife — who had a kidney transplant
11 years ago — was alert to his problem and the hospital was just a
few minutes away.
“I can’t imagine a safer place, with unbelievable care,” he
said.
If the hospital can achieve 157 stroke admissions per year, not
only will it save many lives, but it could mean an additional
$823,545 in net income.