Primary Stroke Team

Catawba Valley Medical Center Stroke Care

Catawba Valley Medical Center’s Stroke Center is a recipient of the Women Certified – Women’s Choice Award for America’s Best Stroke Center (2019-2023) identifying it as one of the nation’s best hospitals based on robust criteria that includes relevant clinical performance, patient satisfaction and appropriate accreditations. The award is built on high patient ratings for recommending the hospital to others and on meeting – or exceeding – national benchmarks in clinical measures.

The first hour after stroke symptoms manifest is referred to as the “golden hour” because the treatment a stroke victim receives within 60 minutes can make a critical difference in the outcome of the event. A stroke is the result of a bloodclot formed in the brain. The faster your medical provider can breakup that bloodclot, the better the patient’s chances are at recovering. Patients arriving at a hospital within the golden hour of a stroke have a much better chance of receiving a critical clot busting agent known as tissue plasminogen activators (tPA).

Every hospital needs to be ready to act fast when a patient arrives with stroke symptoms. Catawba Valley Medical Center’s Primary Stroke Team is well-trained and prepared to quickly administer treatments. After the initial event, we assist patients with further recovery with the assistance of our:

• Stroke program coordinator
• Physical therapist
• Occupational therapist
• Speech-language pathologist
• Rehabilitation patient care coordinator
• Pharmacist
• EMS Staff
• Performance Improvement crew
• Patient care managers
• Clinical development coordinators