FHEO Designated A Primary Stroke Center

Florida Hospital East Orlando Now A Designated Primary Stroke Center

ORLANDO, Fla., May 12, 2010 - May is Stroke Awareness Month, and Florida Hospital East Orlando (FHEO) is proud to celebrate this health observance with the new designation as a Primary Stroke Center. FHEO is one of three hospitals in the Florida Hospital system to be honored with this designation.

"A Primary Stroke Center will help improve the quality of life for stroke patients." says Dr. Abraham Thomas, stroke program medical director at FHEO (pictured at right). "Essentially, it will allow us to reverse the effects of the stroke, in turn hopefully resulting in better outcomes."

According to the American Stroke Association, a Primary Stroke Center is defined as "a hospital-based center that stabilizes and provides emergent care to acute stroke patients, transfers patients to a Comprehensive Stroke Center or admits patients and provides further care depending on the patient's needs and the center's capabilities."

The Primary Stroke Center designation confirms that Florida Hospital East Orlando is utilizing the recommendations set forth by the Brain Attack Coalition and the American Stroke Association, ensuring FHEO is in compliance with consensus-based national standards.

Florida Hospital East Orlando is a 225-bed full service community hospital that serves as one of Florida Hospital's seven satellite facilities and operates the busiest Emergency Department in the Florida Hospital system. Florida Hospital, a 2,209-bed acute-care medical facility, is operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It serves as a community hospital for Greater Orlando and as a major tertiary referral hospital for Central Florida and much of the Southeast, Caribbean and Latin America.