The leadership for the Primary Stroke Center is provided by:

Timothy J. Shephard, PhD, CNS, CNRN – Stroke Program Director and nationally recognized stroke program design expert.
Karen Hale, RN, CNRN – Manager, Neuroscience Telemetry Unit & Co-Chair of the Neuroscience Clinical Practice Group.
Dr. Robert J. Cohen – Stroke Center Medical Director & Board Certified Neurologist for Neurological Associates, Inc.

The highly trained interdisciplinary team of clinicians who are dedicated to our neuroscience & stroke patients include:

• Emergency Department Nursing staff trained and certified above the requirements for PSC Certification, trained to rapidly respond to a “Stroke Alert”
• Board Certified Neurologists with a paging system dedicated to the stroke program “Stroke Alert”
• Speech Language Pathologist, Physical Therapists, & Occupational Therapists dedicated to the Neuroscience Unit for rapid rehabilitation evaluation and treatment services
• Intensely trained staff of neuroscience nurses, many of whom are ABNN Board Certified Neuroscience Registered Nurses.

The latest technology has been acquired and is used to perform rapid evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of acute stroke patients at the SMH Primary Stroke Center.

• Point of care testing in the Emergency Department to provide lab results and imaging in minutes.
• Newly constructed & opened (December 2006) 28-bed Neuroscience Telemetry Unit & Neuroscience Step-down Unit, with exclusively private rooms.
• Newly installed (April 2007), state of the art, 64 slice CT scanner adjoining the Emergency Department for ultra-fast head imaging.
• New (May 2006) Bi-Plane interventional imaging system for cerebral angiography, delivery of intra-arterial thrombolytics & use of the MERCI ischemic stroke clot removal system.

Medical Services provided as part of the Primary Stroke Center are not limited to, but include:

Intravenous thrombolytic therapy. The latest clot-busting medications, delivered through an IV.

Intra-arterial thrombolytic therapy. Medications delivered directly to the clot in patients with blood vessel blockage.

MERCI clot retrieval. Isolation and removal of the clot causing blockage in the vessel to the brain.

Neurosurgery. Surgical treatment for vascular lesions, intra-cranial bleeding, intra-cranial aneurysm, subdural hematoma and brain tumor.

Endovascular carotid stents. Surgical placement of tubes which can open blocked arteries leading to the brain.

Endovascular closure. Surgical closing of an opening in the upper chambers of the heart (Patent Foramen Ovale/PFO).

Rehabilitation: In-patient and out-patient services. Dedicated rehab services provided at Sheltering Arms Rehabilitation Hospital.