Stroke Center Makes Honor Roll


The Primary Stroke Center at Georgia Health Sciences Medical Center has been named to the Target: Stroke Honor Roll by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association for excellence in emergency stroke care.

“When it comes to stroke, time is brain. Treatment within the first three hours – the golden window for stroke – is critical to saving the millions of neurons vital for human function,” said Dr. David Hess, Medical Director of the Primary Stroke Center and Chair of Neurology at Georgia Regents University. GHS Medical

Center is currently one of only about a dozen hospitals in Georgia to make the Target Stroke Honor Roll, making it among the fastest in the nation for life-saving care.

Hospital measures include aggressive use of the clot-busting drug tissue plasminogen activator, commonly known as tPA, and a fast-track protocol to diagnose and treat stroke within a 60-minute window. The multidisciplinary stroke team includes physicians, nurses and staff from emergency, neurology, radiology, pathology and other specialists who work together in a seamless process. Target Stroke Honor Roll recognizes hospitals that treat at least half of eligible patients with tPA within an hour of their arrival to the emergency department.

Stroke is a leading cause of death and serious long-term disability in the United States. On average, someone dies of a stroke every four minutes. GHS Medical Center, located in the heart of the Stroke Belt, is designated as a Primary Care Stroke Center by the Georgia Department of Public Health Office of EMS and Trauma and the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations



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