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:

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