We have updated our Birchmount Hospital phone lines. When you call through the main line (416-495-2400), you will need to add “7” when dialing an extension.

Stroke Care

Staff working with stroke patient on regaining functionality
General Information

Scarborough Health Network (SHN) is transforming care through our Stroke Centre of Excellence, where patients and families have access to seamless stroke care service here in our community. Our stroke program provides high quality, patient-centred care, treating and educating patients and their caregivers throughout the acute stroke phase of their illness.

We have dedicated facilities, spaces and resources, and our stroke team is comprised of skilled health care professionals with specialized training and expertise in the management of stroke patients.

Services

Emergency Stroke Care

If you think that you or someone you’re with is having a stroke, call 911 immediately. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) will get you where you need to go the fastest.

Hyperacute stroke patients will be taken to a regional stroke centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre or Unity Health – St. Michael’s Hospital.

Acute stroke patients in Scarborough will be taken to the Stroke Centre of Excellence at Birchmount hospital.

 

Stroke patients in the Emergency Departments at SHN’s Centenary and General hospitals will get rapid treatment and assessment.

Acute stroke patients who are a fit for the Integrated Stroke Unit, will be transferred and admitted to the Stroke Centre of Excellence at Birchmount.

Minor stroke patients (who have experienced a transient ischemic attack or TIA) will be scheduled for a follow-up appointment in the Stroke Clinic within 72 hours.

If you arrive at the hospital because you may be having a stroke, your emergency care may include:

  • Diagnostic Imaging (CT and MRI)
  • Consultations (Internal Medicine, Neurology, Cardiology)
  • Urgent TIA assessments
  • EEG testing (for neurology patients)
  • Coordination of secondary stroke prevention follow-up care

Stroke Centre of Excellence

SHN’s Stroke Centre of Excellence provides the Scarborough community with access to seamless stroke care services, improved outcomes, and a better health care experience.

Acute stroke patients who admitted to SHN, will be cared for on the Integrated Stroke Unit — located at our Stroke Centre of Excellence at Birchmount Hospital. Patients will have a seamless journey of care, first receiving specialized care from our stroke team and then being transitioned — if they require — into rehabilitation all within the same space, without having to move from unit to unit. Our Integrated Stroke Unit is implemented in alignment with best practice guidelines for treating stroke inpatients, providing faster service, less time spent in the hospital, and better recovery and quality of life when they return home.

  • 22 beds for specialized, acute stroke care and rehabilitation services
  • A gym for occupational and physical therapy
  • An enhanced lounge for becoming more mobile and getting back to daily activities
  • A quiet room for speech assessment and therapy

Contact information

Location: Birchmount Hospital, Unit 4B, 4th floor
Phone: 416-495-2582
Fax: 416-495-2623

The Stroke Centre at Birchmount also includes an outpatient Stroke Clinic that helps to support patients in managing their risk factors for stroke.

  • For patients who have had a “mini” or “warning” stroke known as a transient ischemic attack (TIA), or have symptoms of TIA
  • Open five days a week
  • Provides consultations, and partners with SHN’s emergency departments and family physicians in the community

Contact information

Location: Birchmount Hospital, 4th floor
Call for appointment inquiries: 416-431-8167
Call for general inquiries: 416-495-2558
Fax referral forms: 416-495-2581
Fax non-referral information: 437-780-5886

Stroke Clinic Referral Form

Our multidisciplinary neurological rehabilitation team offers assessment and rehabilitation programming to individuals who have sustained an acute, brain injury or other new neurological diagnoses (less than 12 months post injury).

Interdisciplinary care is provided by an Occupational Therapist, Physiotherapist, and Speech-Language Pathologist. Individualized, patient-centered care is provided to optimize independence by improving communication, cognition, mobility, balance, function and overall quality of life. The program’s objective is to support effective re-integration into the community by providing education, therapeutic supports and referrals to community resources for patients and their families.

Contact information

Location: Centenary Hospital, Margaret Birch Wing, 1st floorCall for clinical questions: 416-281-7266
Call for scheduling questions: 416-431-8167 Fax: 416-281-7224

Stroke care at the Centre are delivered through a coordinated, interprofessional approach. The stroke care team includes:

Nurses, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Rehab Assistants, Speech Language Therapists, Nurse Practitioners, Social Workers, Pharmacists, Dietitians, and Spiritual Care

Physicians specialists in Internal Medicine, Neurology, and Physiatry

Physiatry Referral Form

How to access care

For Emergency Stroke Care

Call 911

If you think that you or someone you’re with is having a stroke, call 911 immediately. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) will get you where you need to go the fastest.

Hyperacute stroke patients will be taken to a regional stroke centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre or Unity Health – St. Michael’s Hospital.

Acute stroke patients in Scarborough will be taken to the Stroke Centre of Excellence at Birchmount hospital.

Contact us

Integrated Stroke Unit

Location: Birchmount Hospital, Unit 4B, 4th floor
Phone: 416 495 2582
Fax: 416-495-2623

Neurorehab Clinic

Location: Centenary Hospital, Margaret Birch Wing, 1st floor
Call for general inquiries: 416-281-7266 
Call for appointment inquiries: 416-431-8167 
Fax: 416-281-7224

Stroke Clinic

Location: Birchmount Hospital, 4th floor
Call for appointment inquiries: 416-431-8167
Call for general inquiries: 416-495-2558
Fax referral forms: 416-495-2581
Fax non-referral forms: 437-780-5886

Referral Forms