Let’s Bring It Down to the Local Level

Stroke awareness is surprisingly lacking, particularly since there are about 1 million strokes occurring in the US annually. And surprising to many is that strokes can happen to Folks of ALL AGES.

A mission of Stroke Recovery Foundation is to reduce this unawareness, so here goes!!

Increasing awareness at the local level is an important nuance, and a really important one because this information may impact someone’s initial stroke treatment, and possible long-term deficits!

First and most importantly, if you suspect a stroke is occurring in your mist, CALL 911..

DO NOT DRIVE THE PATIENT TO THE HOSPITAL. With stroke, TIME IS BRAIN which means that the longer treatment is delayed, the greater the risk of residual long-term damage to the survivor. I cannot stress this enough because you would be surprised just how many do not take that advice, and drive to the emergency room.

Second, be smart and learn where your nearest Stroke Center is located. You want to be sure that if there is a stroke that EMS is taking you to the right hospital. With our complicated self-serve healthcare system, where insurance has a say, you want to self-advocate (or the caregiver partner) to be sure you are being appropriately treated in the right hospital. And should you not take our advice regarding 911, you want to be sure you are going to the right hospital.

Having said that, one very important aspect of stroke awareness is doing your due diligence about where the nearest Stroke Center is, and where it ranks on several performance measurements. US News and World Report collect data on hospitals by disease so you can see, for example, where a particular hospital rates for cancer, stroke or many other significant diseases. Since we are focused on stroke, we offer a stroke example.

The following steps should be followed for Stroke:

You can find the stroke data under Best Hospitals for Neurology and Neurosurgery.

Within that category you can find Stroke.

Then you can find that stroke data by State or City.

There are other hospitals listed but they have lower ratings.

For example, in the Tampa/St Pete area of Florida there are 5 hospitals rated as High Performing in Stroke as follows:

TAMPA/ST PETE HIGH PERFORMING HOSPITALS IN STROKE –

In order of rating*

HOSPITAL                                                         ZIP CODE

Tampa General Hospital                           33605-3571

St. Joseph’s Hospital-Tampa                   33607-6387

Brandon Regional Hospital                      33511-5779

HCA Florida Trinity Hospital                    34655

Northside Hospital – St Petersburg       33709

There are others with lower ratings. You may be interested in how the hospital ratings were generated.

The Stroke Scorecard – US News World Report Ratings

• A hospital’s stroke score is based on multiple data categories, including patient survival, volume, discharging to home and more. Over 6,000 hospitals were evaluated, and eligible hospitals received one of three ratings — high performing (582 hospitals), average (1,712 hospitals) or below average (617hospitals) — with the balance either not offering the service or performing too few of the procedures to be rated. Hospitals that earned a high performing rating were significantly better than the national average. You do not belong in a hospital who is either below average, or not rated for a particular disease.

If you have questions after looking at the listings, please email me at Bobm@StrokeRF.org.

Again, thank you for your attention to become more Stroke Aware! We hope it doesn’t, but sometime in the future your knowledge could be a life-changer!

PASS THIS INFORMATION ON TO FAMILY, FRIENDS AND YOUR COMMUNITY!

Yours truly,

Bob Mandell- Founder and Managing Director

Stroke Recovery Foundation, Inc