Stroke care

What is a stroke?

A stroke occurs when the flow of blood and oxygen to your brain slows or stops. This damages brain cells and can cause you trouble with moving, speaking or thinking. The sooner you get stroke treatment, the better your long-term outlook.

Recognized for high-quality care

Trust ProHealth to provide the right stroke treatment at the right time and offer excellent follow-up care. That’s because ProHealth Waukesha Memorial Hospital and ProHealth Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital are designated Primary Stroke Centers by The Joint Commission, the nation’s highly respected health care accrediting agency.

Waukesha Memorial also has earned:

• Get With The Guidelines Gold Plus Achievement and Quality Award from the American Stroke Association
• Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll Award, the association’s highest level of stroke recognition

Oconomowoc Memorial has received:

• Get With The Guidelines Gold Plus Achievement and Quality Award from the American Stroke Association
• Target: Stroke Honor Roll Award

Ischemic stroke treatments

ProHealth stroke teams use advanced RAPID CTP software to view detailed images of the brain clearly and quickly. The enhanced speed allows physicians to diagnose strokes and provide treatment faster than ever before.

Most strokes result from a blood clot that blocks the brain’s supply of blood and oxygen. For these strokes – called ischemic strokes – your doctor may use one of the following treatments.

Tissue plasminogen activator (TPA)

TPA is a time-sensitive medicine that dissolves the blood clot. Feel confident knowing that ProHealth Emergency Department patients receive TPA sooner, on average, then the national goal.

Mechanical thrombectomy

Mechanical thrombectomy slides a tiny medical tool into an artery and threads it to a blood clot to grab and remove the clot. Our interventional radiology team has advanced experience with mechanical thrombectomy. ProHealth Care is the first system in Waukesha County to perform this life-saving procedure.

Hemorrhagic stroke treatment

If a blood vessel bursts in your brain, you may experience a hemorrhagic stroke. To treat this less common type of stroke, doctors need to stop the bleeding. They may use medicine, a minimally invasive procedure or open surgery.

Care team

Benefit from a well-rounded stroke care team that may include:

• Neurologist – Doctor who specializes in care for the brain.
• Neurosurgeon – Doctor who performs brain surgery.
• Interventional radiologist – Doctor who uses minimally invasive brain treatments.
• Nurses – Day-to-day caregivers with intensive training in neuroscience.

Your team members work together to help you achieve the best possible outcome.

Recovery and rehabilitation

After a stroke, neurological rehabilitation helps you restore the ability to move, speak or do daily tasks.

If you participate in ProHealth’s follow-up stroke clinic, our specialists experienced in stroke and other neurological conditions will provide focused care to ensure that your treatment plan follows national standards and best practices. Ask your doctor about this program, which also helps people heal after a transient ischemic attack (TIA), or mini stroke.

Educational materials

Expect to receive information that helps you and your family understand your condition after a stroke. If the stroke made it harder for you to read, you’ll receive CDs with voice recordings.

Clinical trials

Ask your doctor if you qualify for a research study that tests new ways to prevent stroke or improve follow-up care. Learn about the benefits and risks of clinical trials, and browse open trials.