Gulf Coast Medical Center wins award for stroke treatment

Posted: Published on January 20th, 2015

This post was added by Dr Simmons

LEE COUNTY, FL -

For the fourth year in a row, Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers makes national headlines for its state-of-the-art stroke treatment. The honor comes from the American Heart Association and Stroke Association.

We met with the doctors behind the scenes and found out what makes the hospital number one in the country.

"I was sitting on the floor and I couldn't get up." In seconds, Rachel Abraham realized what was happening. "I said please call the ambulance." She was having a stroke. "At my age you have to expect anything," Abraham said. Without skipping a beat, the 92-year-old made it to Gulf Coast Medical Center on Daniels Parkway near Metro.

She was able to receive live saving treatment in time.

"Two million brain cells die every minute when we're waiting on a stroke," Nasser Razack, a neurointerventionist, said.

Once a stroke begins, there's only a small window of 3 hours for patients to get treated. "The longer we take to fix something, to open up a stroke or treat a stroke, the more brain cells die," Razack said.

The hospital is honored for shortening its "door to needle" times surpassing the national standard, meaning they get to doctors faster than other hospitals. "We're consistently in the 60 minute window, we've been as low as 20 minutes," Jennifer Blue, a nursing director at Gulf Coast Medical Center, said.

In minutes, a doctor can administer a clot busting medication and save critical brain tissue. "I'm what you call a brain plumber. I get in to all the pipes in the brain and open those pipes up if you have a clotted blood vessel," Razack said. By doing so, stroke patients avoid severe disability. "This hospital has the infrastructure the team to provide all of these stroke services in a great manner," Razack said.

Discharging patients sooner...like Rachel. "It's a five star hospital," Abraham said.

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Gulf Coast Medical Center wins award for stroke treatment

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