Stroke Center

In the event of a stroke, every second counts. That's why it's important to know that you can get the kind of care you need, right here in your community — at the dedicated Stroke Center at Mount Sinai South Nassau. As part of our commitment to stroke care, we have taken steps to ensure that our patients have the very best level of care. Some of our achievements include:

• We're Nassau County's first hospital to be designated as a Stroke Center by the New York State Department of Health
  
• Received The Joint Commission's Primary Stroke Center Certification
  
• Earned the “Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award” from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's Get With The Guidelines^® — Stroke program and achieved the “Target: Stroke Honor Roll — Elite” award
  

We have earned these honors in part because of our commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care, including:

• Rapid assessment of patients with stroke symptoms
  
• On-site, next-generation CT scanner
  
• Aggressive treatment using the most up-to-date clinical guidelines for stroke — treatments that improve survival rates and lower the risk of another stroke
  
• Comprehensive neurological and neurosurgical care during the hospital stay
  
• Nurses with special training in stroke care
  
• Stroke Support Group
  
• Community education
  

Memorize and Recognize the Symptoms of Stroke

If you or someone you are with is experiencing the symptoms below, call 911 immediately. And remember that South Nassau’s award-winning, dedicated Stroke Center is there to offer the gold standard in stroke care.

Stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is disrupted, either by a clot that causes a blockage (ischemic stroke) or a burst blood vessel in the brain (hemorrhagic stroke). The major symptoms of stroke typically occur suddenly and without warning.

Commit the most common symptoms of stroke to memory using the acronym BE FAST:

• B = Balance: Is the person suddenly having trouble with balance or coordination?
• E = Eyes: Is the person experiencing suddenly blurred or double vision or a sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes without pain?
• F = Facial: Does one side of the face droop or is it numb? Ask the person to smile.
• A = Arm or Leg: Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
• S = Speech: Is speech slurred, are they unable to speak, or are they hard to understand? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence like, “The sky is blue.” Is the sentence repeated correctly?
• T = Time to call 911: If the person shows any of these symptoms, even if the symptoms go away, call 911 and get them to the hospital immediately
  

Other common symptoms of stroke: headaches; sudden vision problems; confusion or loss of memory; changes in alertness, hearing and taste; numbness or tingling on one side of the body; and difficulty reading or writing.

Other less common symptoms of stroke are sudden dizziness and generalized weakness.

Primary Stroke Center

Mount Sinai South Nassau has been awarded Primary Stroke Center Certification from The Joint Commission. This honor confirms that Mount Sinai South Nassau is making "exceptional efforts to foster better outcomes for stroke care."

Primary Stroke Center Certification is available only to stroke programs in Joint Commission-accredited acute care hospitals like South Nassau. To earn the certification, we underwent a thorough and rigorous on-site review by surveyors with expertise in stroke care. The certification is based on successfully showing our compliance to stroke care standards, clinical practice guidelines and performance measurement. Certified Primary Stroke Centers also collect and report on eight core stroke measures.

Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award for Stroke

Mount Sinai South Nassau has received the Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award as part of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines — Stroke and Target: Stroke Honor Roll — Elite. The award recognizes Mount Sinai South Nassau’s commitment and success ensuring that stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to national guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

To receive the Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher on all achievement indicators for two or more years and achieve 75 percent or higher compliance with five of the Get With The Guidelines — Stroke Quality measures.

To qualify for the Target: Stroke Honor Roll — Elite, our team reached quality measures to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster drug tPA (tissue plasminogen activator). South Nassau earned the award by meeting specific quality measures that are designed to help hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goals of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients.

Learn More

Mount Sinai South Nassau’s Center for Cardiovascular Health