Editor’s note: Big news – After an intense, voluntary process, the Level III Stroke Center at Cedar County Memorial Hospital has been re-certified leaving it as the only one in several counties in Southwest Missouri.

A stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted or reduced, depriving the brain of oxygen and nutrients.  The longer the brain is deprived of oxygen and nutrients, the greater the damage to the brain.  There are two types of stroke:  the vast majority of strokes are ischemic (lack of oxygenated blood flow) and are typically caused by a blood clot that blocks a vessel to the brain; a lower percentage of strokes are hemorrhagic and caused by a blood vessel that breaks causing blood to spill into the brain.  Stroke can result in permanent impairment and even death.  Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States, killing approximately 140,000 Americans each year.  More than 795,000 Americans have a stroke each year; this is about 1 every 40 seconds.  According to data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, 130 Cedar County residents died due to stroke in the period 2008-2018.    

Cedar County Memorial Hospital understands that minutes matter when it comes to stroke care and took action to become certified as a Time Critical Diagnosis (TCD) Level III Designated Stroke Center by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services in June 2018.  That certification lasts through June 2022.

Missouri’s TCD system for stroke includes four levels of hospital designations across the state.  Stroke center designation is voluntary and requires on-site review by a team of stroke experts chosen by the state TCD program to assure compliance with state TCD regulations and specific policies and protocols for staff education/training and coordination of the time critical care to be received by each stroke patient.  Level III Stroke Centers such as Cedar County Memorial Hospital play an important role in providing access into Missouri’s TCD stroke program and important patient care in non-metropolitan areas.

For area residents this means that Cedar County Memorial Hospital