OSF Saint Francis Medical Center Earns Comprehensive Stroke Center Certification

OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria has become the first hospital in central Illinois to earn comprehensive stroke center certification, a designation that means the hospital can now treat the most severe stroke cases without transferring patients to Chicago or St. Louis-area hospitals.

Comprehensive stroke center status requires hospitals to maintain around-the-clock availability of neurosurgeons and specialized imaging capable of guiding advanced procedures such as mechanical clot removal, requirements that had previously kept the region's stroke patients dependent on lengthy transfers for the most serious cases.

"Every minute matters with a stroke, and for a long time our sickest stroke patients from here were spending an hour or more in transport time to reach the kind of hospital that could actually treat them," said OSF Saint Francis's stroke program medical director. "Now that treatment can happen right here in Peoria."

The hospital spent nearly three years building out the clinical infrastructure required for certification, including recruiting additional neurosurgeons and interventional specialists willing to relocate to a more rural part of the state, historically a recruiting challenge for specialized medical staff. OSF Saint Francis also upgraded its imaging equipment to meet certification requirements for rapid stroke assessment.

Illinois health officials said the certification fills a significant gap in stroke care access for central Illinois's roughly 500,000 residents, who previously had no comprehensive stroke center within the region. Hospital officials said the designation will be reviewed again in two years as part of standard recertification requirements.