Most young adults don’t spend a lot of time worrying about stroke. But Justin Grimes, a 25-year-old Army veteran from York, knows stroke can occur at any age – and it happens in an instant.
Grimes was playing with his young children one night after dinner when, as he states, he “just fell over.”
“I fell over on my right side and I couldn’t get back up. I just laid there on the ground,” Grimes explains. “I had lost control. I was aware of what was going on, but I couldn’t do anything.”
His wife Courtney had him rushed to WellSpan York Hospital, where doctors quickly determined that he was having a severe stroke.
“She did the right thing by calling 911 quickly,” says Grant Sorkin, M.D., WellSpan neurosurgeon and surgical director of the Comprehensive Stroke Center at WellSpan York Hospital. “And he was lucky to come to our Comprehensive Stroke Center at WellSpan York Hospital. At these stroke centers we’re able to diagnose stroke in expeditious fashion and then we can treat him both medically and surgically with state-of-the-art techniques.”
Thanks to Courtney’s quick decision-making and the expert care available at the York Hospital Comprehensive Stroke Center, Grimes made a quick recovery and was discharged in just 11 days.
WellSpan York Hospital was recently recertified by The Joint Commission as one of only two Comprehensive Stroke Centers in the region. It’s a designation for hospitals that can treat the most severe stroke cases, and only 4 percent of hospitals in the country have that designation.
Comprehensive Stroke Centers also exhibit expertise in each part of the patient journey, from prevention, post-stroke secondary prevention, follow-up care and rehabilitation.
WellSpan Health has a network of six stroke centers across southcentral Pennsylvania, each having received prestigious designations for their expertise in stroke care and quality in patient outcomes.
Dr. Sorkin says that in Grimes’ case, as with all others, it’s a team approach to stroke care at WellSpan.
“By the time the patients get to my table they’ve already successfully navigated the emergency department, radiology, anesthesiology, all the nurses and staff. I couldn’t do any of my work without them,” he says.
Know the Signs of a Stroke
Act FAST and CALL 9-1-1 IMMEDIATELY at any sign of a stroke
FACE: Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?
ARMS: Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
SPEECH: Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Is their speech slurred or strange?
TIME: If you observe any of these signs, call 9-1-1 immediately.