Stroke Rehabilitation

Through specialized, compassionate care, St. Joseph Hospital’s Stroke Rehabilitation Program offers patients neurological treatments personally designed to enhance their health and well-being after a stroke.

Patients work with licensed occupational, physical and speech rehabilitation specialists to restore their quality of life after a stroke.

Trusted team of experts

Our multidisciplinary team of doctors and therapists is experienced in helping patients restore optimal function and self-esteem. Together, they work with the goal of restoring optimal function and quality of life.

The core team includes:

  • Stroke Specialists
  • Interventional Radiologists
  • Neurologists
  • Neurosurgeons

With treatments for balance issues, post-operative therapy and a neurological program designed for stroke victims, our comprehensive team of rehab specialists provide care for a variety of stroke-related issues, such as:

  • Weakness (called hemiparesis) or paralysis (called hemiplegia) on one side of the body possibly affecting the whole side or just the arm or leg. The weakness or paralysis is on the side of the body opposite the side of the brain affected by the stroke.
  • Spasticity, stiffness in muscles or painful muscle spasms
  • Balance and/or coordination problems
  • Difficulty using language, including understanding speech or writing (called aphasia); and knowing the right words but having trouble saying them clearly (called dysarthria)
  • Pain, numbness or odd sensations
  • Memory, thinking, attention or learning problems
  • Trouble swallowing (called dysphagia)
  • Bowel or bladder control problems
  • Fatigue
  • Difficulty controlling emotions (called emotional lability)
  • Depression
  • Challenges with daily tasks

Providers of stroke care will tell you that “Time is Brain.” That means it’s vital to restore blood flow as quickly as possible to reverse or diminish the damage caused by a stroke. Unfortunately, fewer than one in five people who have had a stroke arrive at a hospital that has a stroke center within the ideal therapeutic window. That’s largely why, in spite of remarkable treatment advancements, stroke remains one of the country’s leading causes of death and disability.

Stroke survivor Robert Schilling, age 64, advises anyone who suspects a stroke to get help right away. During a home improvement project, he suddenly found himself “feeling strange.” He couldn’t use his right hand and his wife noticed a drooping facial expression.

“I knew right away something was wrong,” he relates. “We called the paramedics and they arrived at my house fast—in about three minutes. After stabilizing me, one of the attendants asked what hospital I wanted to go to. I told him St. Joseph Hospital, he said ‘Good choice,’ and we were on our way to the Emergency Room.”

After immediate and thorough testing, Robert was treated for two issues. He received a stent to open his narrowed carotid artery (located in the neck). A clot-busting drug was administered directly to a small, blocked vessel in his brain. “By the time I left the procedural room I was able to raise my arm again. I was awake the whole time, and the doctors were very good about telling me what was going on,” he recalls.

Six weeks later, Robert feels good. “I’d say I’m 99.9 percent recovered,” he says. “I’ve started playing golf again.”