Time Was Crucial for Oroville Hospital Stroke Patient’s Recovery

On Nov. 9, 2024, Dawn Abel woke in the middle of the night, unaware that she was having a stroke. Her husband, Robert, saw that her face was drooping on the left side and immediately recognized it as a tell-tale symptom. 

He called 911 and an ambulance rushed Dawn to Oroville Hospital – just a 10-minute drive from her home.  As an American Stroke Association-designated Primary Stroke Center, the hospital had specially trained clinicians, already alerted by the EMTs in the ambulance, waiting in the emergency room to evaluate her. A CT scan indicated that a clot in a blood vessel in her brain was the cause of her stroke. 

Because Dawn had other medical issues that prevented her from receiving a highly effective clot-dissolving drug known as tPA that can be administered to eligible patients at primary stroke centers, the Oroville Hospital team quickly arranged for her to be flown by helicopter to a Sacramento-area medical center. There, a complex surgical procedure was performed to remove the clot ...