Stroke Program
When it Comes to Stroke Care, Every Minute Counts
When you’re treated for a stroke at Providence, we provide life-saving and disability-limiting emergency care. Then we help you recover and maintain a healthy lifestyle to prevent future strokes.
A stroke is a medical emergency that can happen to anyone at any age. During a stroke, blood flow to the brain is blocked, often by a blood clot (ischemic stroke) or there is bleeding in the brain (hemorrhagic stroke), leading to a lack of oxygen to the brain. Getting the right medical help quickly can prevent serious brain damage or death.
If you or someone near you is experiencing possible signs of a stroke call 911 right away.
Providence Alaska Medical Center has been providing life-saving stroke care to Alaskans since 2008. We treat more stroke patients than any other facility in the state. Our expert stroke team is available around the clock to quickly diagnose symptoms and use the most advanced treatments to minimize damage from strokes. Our team partners with community EMS and air ambulance teams to begin stroke assessment and intervention while patients are still in transit to the hospital.
We treat strokes and other neurological conditions including:
- Aneurysms
- Arteriovenous malformations
- Carotid artery disease
- Cerebral blood vessel abnormalities
- Cerebral vasospasms
- Hemorrhagic strokes
- Ischemic strokes
- Transient ischemic attacks
When strokes happen, every minute counts. It’s critical to get prompt treatment to avoid serious brain injury. Call 911 right away if you or someone close to you experiences stroke symptoms.
Our team of specialists provides compassionate and complete care, from diagnosis and treatment to rehabilitation. Our stroke services include:
Effective stroke treatment depends on the type of stroke. In addition to a physical exam, some of the tests your care team may use to diagnose stroke include:
- Carotid artery duplex
- Cerebral angiography
- CT scans, including non-contrast CT, CT angiography and CT perfusion
- Laboratory tests for genetic stroke factors
- Lipid evaluation, which identifies stroke-related lipid disorders
- MRI and magnetic resonance angiogram
- Stat hematology and coagulation tests to assess and treat acute stroke
- Transthoracic echocardiogram and trans-esophageal echocardiogram
- Transcranial Doppler
- Emergency services: Our stroke experts are available 24/7 to immediately evaluate symptoms, diagnose conditions and provide treatment. They work in partnership with community EMS and air ambulance teams to provide emergency assessments and interventions.
- Thrombolytic therapy: This clot-busting medication can be used for a stroke caused by a blocked artery in the brain. This drug is given intravenously during the first few hours after the stroke to dissolve the clot and restore blood flow, which significantly improves the chances of recovery.
- Minimally invasive, image-guided therapies: Our care team offers several less invasive interventions to treat strokes and other neurological conditions. These include:
- Endovascular angioplasty: A procedure to expand narrowed vessels
- Endovascular stenting: Placement of a device to hold open narrow or blocked vessels
- GDC coils: A device that closes off aneurysms
- Intra-arterial thrombolysis: A medication, delivered via catheter, to dissolve clots
- Intraoperative angiogram: A procedure that offers real-time feedback while treating an aneurysm or arteriovenous malformation (AVM)
- Mechanical thrombectomy: A procedure to remove clots in certain arteries up to 24 hours after a stroke
- Surgical services: Providence offers expert surgical services to treat patients experiencing strokes and other neurological conditions. These surgeries include:
- Aneurysm clipping and reconstruction
- Brain mapping to protect speech and other functions during AVM treatment
- Carotid artery surgery to treat arteries narrowed by plaque
- Cerebral revascularization to restore and re-route blood flow during aneurysm treatment
- Stereotactic radiosurgery to treat AVMs non-invasively
Our stroke rehabilitation specialists understand how challenging recovery can be. That’s why we guide you, encourage you and include you and your loved ones in creating a rehabilitation plan.
Rehabilitation begins while you are still in the hospital. Our specialists will support you as you get used to performing the activities of daily life again. They will make sure you’re equipped for the next phase of your recovery, which may include outpatient rehabilitation or services provided by Providence Home Health.
Rehabilitation also means lowering your risk of another stroke. This includes:
- Controlling high blood pressure
- Exercising regularly
- Lowering cholesterol
- Maintaining a healthy weight
- Quitting smoking
- Reducing alcohol consumption
Should your care team recommend extended inpatient rehabilitative care, we can help coordinate these services for you. Depending on the level of care you need, your physician may ask that you be transferred to:
We know that no two strokes are alike, which is why our interdisciplinary team works closely with every patient to help them achieve their best outcomes.
Our team of specialists includes:
- Cardiologists
- Chaplains
- Emergency medicine physicians
- Hospitalists
- Intensivists
- Interventional radiologists
- Neurologists
- Neurosurgeons
- Nurse practitioners
- Occupational therapists
- Pharmacists
- Physiatrists
- Physical therapists
- Registered dietitians
- Registered nurses
- Respiratory therapists
- Social workers
- Speech/language pathologists
We know the faster a stroke is diagnosed and treated, the better the outcome. And access to a stroke specialist at a moment’s notice is critical. For people unable to reach Providence Alaska Medical Center, we’ve partnered with local care providers to bring our expert stroke care to communities throughout Alaska 24 hours a day.
Through a secure, two-way video system, our Providence Alaska Medical Center stroke experts can be “in the room” with you, your loved ones and your local physicians, helping to diagnose and determine the best treatment for you. Our Telestroke program lets you receive the most effective treatment right in your own community, even if you’re far from our hospital.
Our Telestroke services include:
- 24/7 critical care transport system to move patients to a higher level of care as needed
- 24/7 on-call neurosurgeons, interventional radiologists and neuro-interventionists
- A full-time dedicated team led by an experienced Telestroke neurologist and nurse coordinator
- Close partnerships among all locations to maintain safe and fair care for every stroke patient
- Expert service from initial evaluation through follow-up
- Support and tools to enhance quality in stroke patient outcomes
There are several risk factors that can contribute to stroke. Controllable risk factors include:
- Being physically inactive
- Being overweight or obese
- Certain heart diseases, including vascular diseases such as carotid artery disease and peripheral artery disease
- Diabetes
- Eating foods high in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol and sodium
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Sickle cell disease
- Sleep apnea
- Smoking
While managing these factors can help lower your risk of stroke, there are some stroke risk factors you can’t control that can raise your risk:
- Age: A stroke can occur at any age, but your risk increases as you get older.
- Family history: If a grandparent, parent or sibling has had a stroke, especially before the age of 65, it increases your risk.
- Gender: Women are at higher stroke risk and have more strokes than men.
- Previous events: Having had a prior stroke, transient ischemic attack (TIA) or heart attack increases your risk of a second such event.
- Race: Black, Alaska Native, American Indian and Hispanic individuals have a higher incidence of stroke.
You can help prevent stroke with regular checkups, exercise, good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle – including knowing and managing stroke risk factors.
Women’s risk for stroke is higher than men's, and women face higher rates of disability and death from stroke. While stroke is the fifth leading cause of death for all adults, it’s the third leading cause for women. Among women, Black women have the highest risk of having a stroke.
Women’s higher risk can only be partially attributed to the fact they tend to live longer. Women have additional unique risk factors that may increase their risk through different life stages:
- History of gestational diabetes
- History of preeclampsia
- Hormonal changes
- Oral contraceptive use (especially when combined with smoking)
- Post-menopausal hormone therapy
- Pregnancy
Other stroke risk factors that seem to be stronger or occur more often in women include:
- Atrial fibrillation
- Depression
- Diabetes
- Hypertension
- Migraine with aura
Stroke Warning Signs
When a stroke happens, every minute counts. Knowing the signs of a stroke and acting quickly could save your life or that of someone close to you and provide the best chance for recovery. Stroke signs may include:
- Trouble walking, dizziness or loss of balance and coordination
- Trouble seeing in one or both eyes or double or blurred vision
- Numbness, weakness or paralysis in the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
- Confusion and difficulty speaking or understanding speech
- Sudden, severe headache with no known cause
BE FAST, because it can save a life. If you suspect a stroke, call 911. Don’t drive or have someone drive you. The EMS team will begin an initial stroke assessment and communicate this information ahead to our emergency stroke team while en route to the hospital.
Recognition
U.S. News & World Report - High Performing Hospital in Stroke (2024-25)
American Heart Association (AHA) Get With the Guidelines® - Stroke Gold Plus Achievement with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus and Target: Type 2 Diabetes℠ Honor Roll (2024)