Rhode Island's First Certified Stroke Center

The Miriam Hospital is the first hospital in Rhode Island to be certified as a stroke center by the Joint Commission, which regulates all the nation’s hospitals. Certification is based on optimized care: the ability to diagnose and deliver the right treatment for stroke patients. Stroke is the third leading cause of death in this country, and a major cause of long-term disability. With the right treatment—delivered promptly at the right hospital—lives can be saved and crippling disabilities reversed.

Blood clots are the cause of about 85 percent of over 3,000 strokes suffered by Rhode Islanders each year. Dissolving clots in the fragile blood vessels of the brain is extremely difficult. One effective medication, tPA, can dissolve the clot, but it must be administered during the first few hours after symptoms appear. The Merci® Retriever, a tiny corkscrew that can be threaded into an artery in the brain, is able to pull a clot out of the brain. These treatments are available at only a very few hospitals. Both are available around the clock at The Miriam Hospital.

For more information about the Stroke Center at The Miriam Hospital, please call 401-793-5533.