Stroke Care

Rapid Response for Successful Outcomes

Every second matters for stroke patients. Immediate medical attention is lifesaving and can reduce the possibility of long-term brain damage and complications. All Catholic Health hospitals located in Nassau and Suffolk counties have a team of stroke experts available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Catholic Health hospitals are New York State Department of Health-designated stroke centers that meet the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s “Get with the Guidelines®” standards for rapid stroke diagnosis and treatment. Catholic Health stroke experts include neurologists, neurosurgeons, nurses and stroke coordinators who identify the causes of a stroke and find risk factors that could cause another stroke in the future.

Primary and Comprehensive Stroke Care

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Good Samaritan University Hospital's Comprehensive Stroke Center (West Islip, NY):

The Gary H. Richard and Family Stroke & Brain Aneurysm Center of Long Island at Good Samaritan University Hospital is the first Comprehensive Stroke Center to be recognized by both the Joint Commission and the New York State Department of Health.
Provides more specialized care for patients with complex strokes.
Stabilizes and provides emergency care for patients with an acute stroke.
Emergency room provides stroke care 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Treats complex stroke cases by combining advanced imaging capabilities, including a 512 speed low-dose CT scanner, a biplane angiography system and the experience and skill of specialized neurointerventionalists, neurointensivists and intensive care trained nurses and support staff.

St. Francis Hospital & Heart Center (Roslyn, NY):

Designated by the Joint Commission and New York State Department of Health as a Thrombectomy Capable Stroke Center.
Capable of performing mechanical thrombectomy—a minimally invasive procedure to remove a blood clot from an artery.
Stabilizes and provides emergency care for patients with an acute stroke.
Emergency room provides stroke care 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

A Primary Stroke Center stabilizes and provides emergency care for patients with an acute stroke. Our primary stroke centers are designated by the Joint Commission and New York State Department of Health.

All hospital emergency rooms are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Nassau County Primary Stroke Centers

Mercy Hospital (Rockville Centre, NY)

St. Joseph Hospital (Bethpage, NY)

Suffolk County Primary Stroke Centers

St. Catherine of Siena Hospital (Smithtown, NY)

St. Charles Hospital (Port Jefferson, NY)

Stroke Types & Treatments

Catholic Health uses the latest and most advanced diagnostic technologies to identify if your type of stroke is a hemorrhagic stroke or an ischemic stroke. Several Catholic Health hospitals use telestroke video to give neurologists quicker access to diagnose and prescribe life-saving treatments.

Ischemic Stroke

An ischemic stroke happens when an artery in the brain is blocked by a blood clot. This blockage reduces blood flow and oxygen to the brain, which leads to damage or loss of brain cells.

Stroke patients may get a medicine called a thrombolytic to dissolve a clot and improve blood flow to the brain if they get to a hospital within four-and-a-half hours of initial stroke symptoms.

Hemorrhagic Stroke

A hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel bursts in the brain. Blood then accumulates in the tissues around the burst vessel, leading to pressure on the brain and loss of blood in the surrounding areas.

Treatments include endovascular procedures in which a physician inserts a long tube through a major artery in an arm or leg. They then thread the tube to the site of the break in the blood vessel and install a device, such as a coil, to repair the damage or prevent more bleeding.

Hemorrhagic strokes can also be treated with surgery to insert a metal clip to stop the bleeding.

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Stroke Rehabilitation

St. Charles Hospital is home to the only stroke rehabilitation specialty program on Long Island, accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). The hospital's CARF-accredited pediatric rehabilitation specialty program offers care for children who have experienced a stroke.

View stroke rehabilitation services

Neurointervention

Catholic Health neurointervention specialists provide care at our hospitals across Long Island. They are leaders in brain aneurysms, endovascular stroke and other cerebrovascular pathology.

Care is available 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

View neurointervention services

Stroke Support Groups

Emotional healing is as important as physical healing for stroke recovery. Catholic Health offers support groups at locations in both Nassau and Suffolk counties to help stroke survivors.

Connect with other survivors to build a support system.
Get information about helpful resources to understand the rehabilitation process.
Navigate recovery with family or caretakers.

Good Samaritan University Hospital (West Islip, NY)

Brain aneurysm and stroke support group meets the fourth Tuesday of every month. Call 631-983-7072 for more information.

St. Charles Hospital (Port Jefferson, NY)

Call 631-474-6251 for more information.

St. Francis Hospital & Heart Center (Roslyn, NY)

Meets monthly at The DeMatteis Center for Cardiac Research and Education in Greenvale, NY. Call 516-629-2013 for more information.

View our flyer

St. Catherine of Siena Hospital (Smithtown, NY)

Meets on the 3rd Thursday of every month from 1:00 - 2:00 pm at St. Catherine of Siena Hospital. Call 631-870-3444 for more information.