Comprehensive Stroke Center
Halifax Health Medical Center is the first hospital in central Florida to be nationally certified and designated as a Comprehensive
Stroke Center by the Agency for Health Care Administration. Emergency department physicians and clinicians are specialists in the diagnosis
and treatment stroke. A highly specialized team including neuroradiologists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, neurophysiatrists, nurses,
emergency medical specialists and a stroke program coordinator use the latest technologies and medications to combat the immediate and
secondary impact of stroke. A team of health care professionals including physical and occupational therapists, speech therapists and
dietitians work with post-stroke patients to help them return to their highest level of well-being. Everyone involved with the Halifax
stroke program is committed to excellence and continual improvement in treatment of stroke and patient outcomes.
Signs & Symptoms of Brain Attack:
- Numbness, weakness or paralysis of your face, arm or leg.
- Difficulty speaking or understanding speech.
- Blurred, double or decreased vision
- Dizziness, loss of balance or loss of coordination.
- A severe ‘out of the blue’ headache possibly along with facial pain, pain between the eyes, vomiting or altered consciousness.
- Confusion or problems with memory, spatial orientation or perception.
Highlights of our program:
- Speed Ability to evaluate patients for symptoms of a stroke (brain attack) in 15 minutes or less.
- Advanced Diagnostics We offer the latest diagnostic equipment (CT Scanning capable of 64 slices).
- Medical Expertise
- Neuroradiologists/interventional radiologists specifically trained in rapidly diagnosing strokes via computerized tomography (CT) scans, as well as treating strokes via minimally invasive approach, (MERCI retrieval) are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Emergency department physicians and clinicians are specialists in the diagnosis and treatment stroke.
- Halifax Health neurosurgeons specially trained in performing surgical procedures relating to hemorrhagic strokes (strokes caused by blood vessels bursting in the brain) and interventional radiologists are standing by 24 hours a day to support the urgent needs of our patients.
- Our comprehensive team includes physicians, therapists, and nurses with training in neurological and neurosurgical evaluation.
- Our rehabilitation team has had over nine years of experience in neuro-degenerative and stroke related rehabilitation (including physical, occupational and speech therapy).
- We are staffed with endovascular surgeons specifically trained in performing surgical procedures related to strokes caused by blockage in arteries of the neck.
Treatment Options:
Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA)
The clot-dissolving drug tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) to treat strokes caused by blood clots. (Blood clots cause about 80 percent of all strokes.) tPA dissolves the clot and restores blood flow to the brain. tPA carries a risk of bleeding in the brain, but its benefits outweigh the risks when an experienced doctor uses it properly. Not every stroke patient, particularly those having a hemorrhagic stroke, should be treated with tPA. That's why it's extremely important to determine the type of stroke very quickly. tPA is effective only if given promptly. For maximum benefit, the therapy must be started within three hours of the onset of stroke symptoms. That's why it's so critical that medical professionals and the public recognize stroke as a medical emergency and respond immediately.
Patients have access to the latest diagnostic technologies to pinpoint specific disorders. We are using advanced imaging technologies to produce scans of the brain and the spinal cord that provide our healthcare teams with vital information such as blood flow and electrical activity in the brain and how well nerves are conducting electrical impulses to muscles. Armed with this information, Halifax Health’s Comprehensive Stroke Center can diagnose and treat patients more successfully.
The Stroke Center is one component of Halifax Health's Neuroscience Center.
