Stroke Center Services at Eastern Maine Medical Center

As a Stroke Center, EMMC offers the following best practice treatment protocols.

• We have an acute stroke team available around the clock that begins an evaluation within 15 minutes for any patient exhibiting stroke symtpoms.
• Our highly trained Emergency Department staff members are experienced in diagnosing and treating strokes, and are able to maintain constant communication with emergency medical responders and the stroke team.
• EMMC has written protocol and a physician order entry system to streamline and accelerate the diagnosis and treatment of stroke.
• EMMC has partnerships and collaborations with the region's emergency medical responders and LifeFlight of Maine to ensure that we know when a patient with a stroke is being transported to EMMC.
• We offer neuro-imaging services 24 hours per day to rapidly determine if a patient has a clot blocking blood flow to the brain or a blood vessel that has ruptured. Imaging studies are performed within 25 minutes of a physician's order, and physicians evaluate the images within 15 minutes of image completion.
• EMMC has laboratory services available 24 hours a day.
• We have quality improvement protocols, including a registry for tracking patient treatments, timelines of treatments, and measures of patient outcomes.
• EMMC offers continuing education for our staff in the Emergency Department and the Stroke Center.
• We offer community education to teach individuals how to prevent a stroke and to recognize its signs and symptoms.