Stroke

A stroke, or a “brain attack,” is a sudden loss of brain function and can happen to anyone at anytime. It occurs when blood flow to an area of the brain is cut off. This interruption causes brain cells to be deprived of oxygen and begin to die. Abilities controlled by that area of the brain, such as speech, movement and memory, can be affected. The severity of the stroke is determined by where the stroke occurs in the brain and how much the brain is damaged.

Stroke is a medical emergency. It is the leading cause of disability and fifth cause of death in the United States. Georgia is one of the 11 stroke belt states, putting our community at a 34 percent higher risk of having a stroke than other areas around the country.

Telestroke Program

Launched in August 2016, in partnership with Baptist Health Jacksonville and physicians in Florida and Southeast Georgia, our Telestroke Program is designed to deliver 24/7 lifesaving care by ensuring patients can be seen by a neurologist via videoconferencing technology within minutes after arriving at the hospital.

How the Telestroke Program works:

A patient arrives at the Emergency Care Center with stroke symptoms.
An internal code is activated, alerting the Emergency Care Center team to expedite treatment.
The mobile telestroke cart is moved to the patient’s bedside, enabling video access to a neurologist for assessment within minutes.
The patient is evaluated for treatment options based on duration of symptoms.

According to the American Heart Association, each 15-minute span between the onset of an ischemic stroke and the delivery of clot-busting medication is an average of one month of disability-free life lost for the patient. Since the Health System’s Telestroke Program launched, there has been a dramatic 30-minute drop in “door-to-needle time,” or the window between when patients arrive and are given tPA intravenously. This means patients are receiving tPA 30 minutes earlier and experiencing fewer disabilities as a result.

Online Stroke Support Group

Our online support group is designed to provide help, encouragement and a sense of community for patients who have suffered a stroke and their loved ones.

Join Our Stroke Support Group

Types of Stroke

The Health System is equipped and prepared to care for patients suffering all types of strokes including a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA), or warning stroke; an ischemic (clotting) stroke; or a hemorrhagic (bleeding) stroke, also called a “brain bleed.”

Transient Ischemic Attack

Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) is a warning sign that a stroke may occur in the next few days or months. This is caused by a lack of oxygenated blood flow to an area of the brain that causes stroke-like symptoms. However, blood flow improves fast enough that brain cells do not die.

Ischemic (clotting) Stroke

Ischemic (clotting) stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is blocked, preventing oxygen and nutrients from getting to the cells. They are usually caused by blood clots, but there are other causes. Types of clots include:

Thrombus - a clot that forms on the wall of a blood vessel in the brain and can stop the flow of blood.
Embolus - a clot in a blood vessel that travels to the brain where it can block blood flow.

An important cause of an embolus is an irregular heartbeat, known as atrial fibrillation (A-fib). This abnormal heart rhythm can cause blood clots to form in the heart and travel to the brain. People with atrial fibrillation are five times more likely to have a stroke.
Ischemic strokes account for about 83 percent of all cases and are the most common type of stroke.

Hemorrhagic (bleeding) Stroke

Hemorrhagic (bleeding) strokes, also called “brain bleeds,” are caused by bleeding in the brain which causes pressure on the brain cells. This happens when a blood vessel bursts and stops the oxygen supply to the surrounding areas of the brain. The most common cause for a brain bleed is high blood pressure and it often occurs in younger people. There are two kinds of bleeding strokes (not caused by trauma):

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) occurs when a blood vessel bleeds into the tissue deep within the brain.
Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) occurs when a blood vessel on the surface of the brain bursts and bleeds into the space between the brain and the skull. A common cause is an aneurysm (blood filled pouch that balloons out from an artery wall).

About 17 percent of all strokes are hemorrhagic. ICH is more common than SAH.

Stroke Warning Signs

The first step to treat a stroke is to recognize the signs and symptoms as soon as they happen. Every minute counts. The longer blood flow is cut off to the brain, the greater the damage. About two million brain cells die every minute during a stroke, affecting functions like memory and muscle control. With swift action, treatments are available to preserve brain cells and greatly reduce the damage caused by a stroke.

If you experience any of these sudden symptoms, call 911!

Numbness or weakness of the face, arm, or leg — especially on one side of the body
Confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
Trouble seeing in one or both eyes
Trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance, or coordination
Severe headache with no known cause

Hemorrhagic strokes may have other additional warning signs including:

Neck stiffness
Light sensitivity
Nausea and vomiting
Loss of consciousness

Stroke Care and Treatment

Whether a patient comes through our Emergency Care Center with stroke symptoms or has a stroke while a patient in the hospital, we provide stroke assessment, diagnostic tests, treatment, and recovery and rehabilitation services. Our objective is to improve the quality of care and outcomes for every stroke patient.

Because time is brain, the treatments available to patients must be administered within the first few hours of the onset of stroke symptoms to improve outcomes. Treatment will depend on the type of stroke, location, size and cause of the stroke. A Computed Tomography (CT) scan of the brain, and possibly other tests, will be ordered to determine the type of stroke experienced.

Treatments for ischemic (clotting) stroke may include medications that can dissolve the blood clot, or procedures that can mechanically remove the clot. The gold standard stroke drug, tissue plasminogen activator, more widely known as tPA, can be injected to help dissolve a clot and improve blood flow, but it must be given within three hours of stroke onset (up to four-and-a-half hours for certain eligible patients). A mechanical thrombectomy, where physicians insert a catheter into an artery in the groin to reach and remove the clot, can be performed following tPA and should occur within six hours of acute symptoms.

Treatment for hemorrhagic (bleeding) stroke may include surgery or medications to stop the bleeding or reduce pressure on the brain. Patients are usually admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where they can be closely observed, tested and treated. Supportive treatment may include a breathing machine and medications to control blood pressure.

Stroke Program Awards

In 2022, Southeast Georgia Health System received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Stroke Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

In 2021, the Brunswick Campus became a certified Advanced Primary Stroke Center and the Camden Campus an Acute Stroke Ready Hospital, both providing Disease-Specific Care (DSC). The certifications were awarded by The Joint Commission (TJC), an independent, not-for-profit organization that accredits health care facilities to ensure quality and safe care.

In 2020, the Brunswick and Camden Campus hospitals were designated Remote Treatment Stroke Centers by the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) Office of Emergency Medical Services and Trauma. According to DPH, both hospitals are now an integral part of Georgia’s comprehensive stroke care system.

In 2020, Southeast Georgia Health System received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

Stroke Patient Guide

Coping with the effects of a stroke can be confusing and stressful, but this book will help you to understand your brain, post-stroke care and what to expect during your hospital stay.

Stroke Patient Guide

Stroke Team Members

Our team includes neurologists, neurosurgeons, hospitalists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacologists, nurses, rehabilitation therapists, social workers, a stroke coordinator and many more. Our team’s goal is to develop an appropriate treatment and discharge plan, coordinate services and monitor progress, ensure the stroke patient and family understand what is happening and provide quality care throughout the patient’s hospital stay.

Healthy Partners Articles

The Right Care at the Right Moment

Healthy Partners, Fall 2022

When Janice Griffin, LPN, started her shift one Wednesday morning at the Southeast Georgia Health System Camden Campus, she stopped by a patient’s bedside. “Something was off; nothing too alarming, but after reviewing her labs, I checked on her again,” Ms. Griffin says. This time, Ms. Griffin saw a “blank stare, drooping face and arm.” She initiated a “code stroke,” setting off an immediate set of actions.

Healthy Partners, Fall 2019

There’s a saying in stroke medicine: Time lost is brain lost. In the case of an ischemic stroke, for example, every 15 minutes that passes between a patient’s onset of stroke and their receiving a clotbusting drug costs the patient almost a month of living free from disability. Thanks to a tool called telemedicine, this debilitating situation is changing for the better.

Article in Healthy Partners Summers 2016 Edition Button

Healthy Partners, Winter 2019

When blood stops flowing to part of the brain because of a clot or a bleed, millions of brain cells begin to die within minutes. And while dead brain cells can’t regenerate, new protocols are helping people get treatment sooner and improving outcomes for stroke victims who receive care within 24 hours of first having symptoms.

Phillip P. Amodeo, M.D.