Orlando Health St. Cloud Hospital Certified as Advanced Primary Stroke Center

Orlando, FL (March 15, 2023) Orlando Health St. Cloud Hospital has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval^® for Advanced Primary Stroke Center Accreditation.

The designation recognizes a hospital’s commitment to a higher standard of clinical service and the establishment of a consistent approach to quality care.

If a patient begins to display symptoms of a stroke, which include face drooping, arm weakness and speech difficulty, a stroke alert is called. The signal triggers the hospital’s treatment process, a critical step to minimize potential brain damage or other complications.

Since Orlando Health St. Cloud Hospital’s stroke program began in May 2022, the hospital documented 236 stroke alerts and cared for 43 stroke patients.  

In a diagnosis where time is of the essence, I can think of no greater importance than this achievement to bringing stroke care to the city of St. Cloud,” said Jessica Reid, RN, Orlando Health St. Cloud Hospital chief nursing officer.  “Our goal is to improve the outcomes for these patients by reducing the distance they must travel to receive care.”

Accreditation by The Joint Commission is one of the highest levels of certification that a hospital can receive. To date, Orlando Health St. Cloud Hospital is the sixth hospital in the Orlando Health system to be certified as an Advanced Primary Stroke Center. 

The facility joins Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center, Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, Orlando Health South Seminole Hospital, Orlando Health South Lake Hospital and Orlando Health - Health Central Hospital.

“With the achievement of Primary Stroke Certification, led by our stroke coordinator Alison Bass, patients in the St. Cloud community can be confident they will receive safe and efficient care when having a stroke or stroke-like symptoms,” said Cindy Lavigne, manager, quality process improvement & patient safety, Orlando Health St. Cloud Hospital.

About Orlando Health

Orlando Health, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is a private, not-for-profit healthcare organization with $8.1 billion of assets under management that serves the southeastern United States. 

Founded more than 100 years ago, the healthcare system is recognized around the world for Central Florida’s only pediatric and adult Level I Trauma program as well as the only state-accredited Level II Adult Trauma Center in Pinellas County. It is the home of the nation’s largest neonatal intensive care unit under one roof, the only system in the southeast to offer open fetal surgery to repair the most severe forms of spina bifida, the site of an Olympic athlete training facility and operator of one of the largest and highest performing clinically integrated networks in the region. Orlando Health has pioneered life-changing medical research and its Graduate Medical Education program hosts more than 350 residents and fellows. 

The 3,238-bed system includes 23 hospitals and emergency departments – 18 of which are currently operational with five coming soon. The system also includes nine specialty institutes, more than 100 adult and pediatric primary care practices, skilled nursing facilities, an in-patient behavioral health facility under the management of Acadia Healthcare, and more than 60 outpatient facilities that include imaging and laboratory services, wound care centers, home healthcare services in partnership with LHC Group, and urgent care centers in partnership with FastMed Urgent Care. More than 4,000 physicians, representing more than 100 medical specialties and subspecialties have privileges across the Orlando Health system, which employs more than 25,000 team members and more than 1,200 physicians. 

In FY22, Orlando Health served nearly 142,000 inpatients and 3.9 million outpatients. The healthcare system provided more than $782 million in total value to the communities it serves in the form of charity care, community benefit programs and services, community building activities and more in FY 21, the most recent period for which this information is available. Additional information can be found at http://www.orlandohealth.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @orlandohealth.