The First 48 Hours Can Make a Difference

A stroke is a catastrophic event for patients and their families. Without swift and advanced care, the initial damage to the brain can set off a cascade of related complications – elevated intracranial pressure, seizures, fever – that amplify the brain's injury and lessen the patient's chance of a full recovery. Getting the best available care within the first 48 hours of a stroke can halt this cascade and is critical to making the best possible recovery.

Strokes occur when blood flow to the brain is interrupted, causing brain cells to begin dying from lack of oxygenated blood. About 780,000 Americans have a new or recurrent stroke each year. Every 40 seconds someone will have a stroke. Every three to four minutes, someone dies from a stroke.

Common Symptoms of Stroke

• Sudden Numbness or weakness in the face, arm or leg
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness or loss of balance
• Sudden severe headache with no known cause

Source: American Stroke Association

For more stroke related information visit www.stroke.org

Call 9-1-1 immediately if you have any of these symptoms

Note the time you experienced your first symptom. This information is important to your healthcare provider and can affect treatment decisions.

North Shore's Primary Stroke Care Center combines the resources of many medical specialties and resources to quickly evaluate and treat patients with complex medical needs.

• Stroke Team: Includes Emergency Department physicians, Neurologists, Neurosurgeons, Interventional Radiologists and Radiologists who specialize in the care of strokes. The team is available round-the-clock to respond when a patient with stroke symptoms comes to the hospital.
• t-PA (tissue plasminogen activator) treatment: the clot-dissolving drug that is the FDA-approved therapy of choice for stroke. To be effective, t-PA must be given within four and a half hours of the onset of symptoms.
• Surgical Treatment for Hemorrhagic Stroke: Patients with larger brain hemorrhages may need to undergo surgery to relieve pressure within the skull caused by bleeding. If the hemorrhagic stroke resulted from a weakened area in a blood vessel wall (an aneurysm) or defective blood vessel, neurosurgeons can repair
• these areas to prevent further strokes.

Accreditation and Certification: Received the designation of Advanced Primary Stroke Center by The Joint Commission in 2010. This was achieved through compliance with the recommendations developed by The Brain Attack Coalition, which consists of 14 national organizations whose primary role is to develop and enhance the care of stroke patients and improve quality of care leading to improved outcomes.                                                              

North Shore Medical Center Stroke Mission Statement

Our Mission is to provide evidence based quality care with high personal attention to patients who exhibit signs and symptoms of stroke. Our highly trained team of physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals will work continually to improve the overall quality of care for our stroke patients while fostering patient, family, community and professional education. Together we aim to decrease the incidence, residual effects and morbidity of strokes while utilizing a compassionate, timely and patient care centered process.