Memo - Stroke Alerts

May 12, 2025

Stroke Alerts

Please be advised of a change in stroke alert policy. All stroke alerts should be taken to the nearest (by time of transport) comprehensive stroke center

This new directive took into account multiple considerations. Although we have made great improvement in attempting to determine the severity of patients with stroke by examination in the field, we recognize that such a determination is still not exact. We also recognize that stroke can be a condition of evolving severity. We have had patients that could have benefited by the advanced interventions at a comprehensive stroke center, but they were instead taken to a primary stroke center. We now have three comprehensive stroke centers that are all within a reasonable transport timeframe. The final determination for this collective decision was the answer to the question “where do you want to go if you are having stroke symptoms of any severity?” The answer was a resounding “to the nearest comprehensive stroke center!”