During a stroke, for every minute that passes you’re losing over three weeks of brain aging. This proves rather clearly that quick intervention during a stroke is critical to both survival and recovery. A Scotland, SD, man is living proof that when it comes to stroke — every second counts.
For many in southeastern South Dakota, Joe Keppen is known as coach.
“That's what I enjoy is coaching my boys and coaching the other kids in town, just various sports, but especially baseball,” said Keppen.
During the off season, he trades the ball field for the cornfield. Two harvests past, this coach found himself in quite the pickle.
“It was actually a normal day and I was helping out on the farm with harvest and was actually driving a semi when I had my stroke. It was very strange, like my left side went weak. So I was actually on the phone and I dropped my phone and I picked it up and was driving the semi and dropped my phone again and then just drove in the ditch. A coworker was riding with me and I was kind of showing him the ropes on driving and what we had to do at the elevator. Luckily he was there because he knew something was wrong and I was kind of trying to just think everything was fine and keep going and he said, no, I needed to get help!” said Keppen.
“Honestly, really the one that saved his life is his coworker because he recognized the symptoms and brought him right away and that's what it really is all about,” said Caroline Fuhrer, PA-C, a physician assistant at Landmann-Jungman Memorial Hospital Avera.
“Time is brain! So the first thing we want to do is differentiate. Is it a hemorrhagic or an ischemic stroke? Is it a blood clot or is it a bleed? That's why we get them to the CT scan right away. Sometimes we'll even bypass coming to the emergency room first and we just get straight to CT,” said Laurie McKee, RN and the director of nursing at Landmann-Jungman Memorial Hospital Avera.
“And we could tell right away that he was in process of having a stroke,” said Fuhrer.
Getting that imaging not only helps the team in the ER, but it also allows for an extra set of eyes. By bringing in a neurologist on the stroke team back in Sioux Falls, they can help direct treatment at the bedside.
“We go over through those checklists to make sure that there is no contraindication for the clot buster and they get our interventionalist involved and get everything worked out real quick so they can get to us on time or as quick as they can. By the time the patient gets to us, we are right at the door, quickly examining the patient and taking that patient to the cath lab to do the procedure,” said Sidra Saleem, MD, a neurologist with the Avera Brain and Spine Institute.
That coordination of care allowed Joe to get clot-busting drugs in Scotland. And a short while later, he was in the Avera McKennan cath lab where the stroke team removed the clot that caused his stroke.
“Well, I was in intensive care for a couple of days and then a step-down bed for a while. Then I went to rehab for two weeks and then I was able to come home,” said Keppen.
That quick stroke response, start to finish, was vital to Joe's recovery. Over a year later and countless days of physical therapy, he's back in the driver's seat assisting with the harvest. But for Joe, the call of the dugout was an even bigger motivator.
"Well, I guess that was kind of one of my goals that probably helped me get through rehab the most. I worked really hard at it because I wanted to get back to coaching the boys. That was my goal to get back to coaching,” said Keppen.
This past season, the coach made his comeback and did so in grand fashion.
“Watching it online was amazing. Watching those boys come back and they did it for him!” said Amy Fuerst, RN, a nurse at Landmann-Jungman Memorial Hospital Avera.
“It is fantastic to see him. He's back to doing what he always did. It's great to see him with his boys at the ball game. It all could have been so different. So thank God that it wasn't different,” said Fuhrer.
“I’m very, very lucky. Yep, very lucky,” said Keppen.
Learn more about stroke care at Avera
