Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport announced Thursday that it has achieved Primary Stroke Center designation from the Joint Commission, enabling first responders to take stroke patients in need of immediate care there for treatment
The Joint Commission is an independent organization that accredits and certifies healthcare organizations.
“Achieving Primary Stroke Center designation reflects the dedication and coordination of our entire stroke team,” said Paul Connor, Chief Administrative Officer of Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital, in the March 26 announcement. “For a 70-bed, rural hospital, this designation demonstrates our ability to deliver timely, evidence-based stroke care close to home.”
This certification process has been in the works for over two years, and the hospital had announced in 2024 that it was beginning to participate in Stony Brook’s “24/7 TeleStroke” program, enabling a neurologist at Stony Brook University Hospital to consult through telemedicine with stroke patients and staff at ELIH, a significant milestone in the Primary Stroke Center designation process.
Hospital officials told The Beacon in 2025 that the hospital’s acquisition of a second CT scanner was central to the Stroke Center designation, providing around-the-clock access to imaging to help doctors determine whether strokes are caused by a blood clot or bleeding.
This is a crucial factor in determining how to treat patients, because the two types of stroke require completely different treatments — one to stop the bleeding, and the other to remove the clot.
Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport serves a geographically unique region, “with a high proportion of adults aged 65 and older, a population at increased risk for stroke and related complications,” according to the hospital.
“Providing this level of stroke readiness at Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital is especially important for the North Fork’s aging population, where rapid access to care can significantly impact outcomes,” said Stony Brook University Hospital CEO Carol A. Gomes in the hospital’s announcement Thursday.
“The North Fork has the highest geriatric population per capita in New York State, and stroke primarily affects older people,” Dr. Lawrence Schiff, the Chair of Emergency Medicine at SBELIH, told The Beacon in 2025. “We do have a need to become a Stroke Center.”
Prior to the Primary Stroke Center designation, the hospital would see any patient who walked in seeking care for a stroke, said Dr. Schiff, and would treat patients already in the hospital who were experiencing stroke symptoms, but local EMS agencies were not able to transport stroke patients to SBELIH until the hospital received the Stroke Center designation.
“The Primary Stroke Center designation at Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital is a major milestone in Stony Brook Medicine’s longstanding history of ensuring state-of-the-art stroke care,” said Stony Brook Medicine’s Executive Vice President, Dr. William Wertheim, in Thursday’s announcement. “Every minute counts in stroke care. This gives patients in our community timely and specialized care to those most at risk and who need it and saves lives.”
Stony Brook Medicine is also in the midst of preparing to house a new Mobile Stroke Unit — a large ambulance with a CT scanner, staffed with specially trained EMS and nursing personnel and TeleStroke access to neurologists at Stony Brook — at the former Big Lots store on Route 58 in Riverhead, Stony Brook Assistant Vice President of Operations for Emergency Services Eric Niegelberg told The Beacon earlier this month.
He said project is currently before Riverhead’s land use boards for review of the change of use of that building, and after permits are in place he expects renovations of the space to take about two months, and Riverhead’s Mobile Stroke Unit is currently being housed at a Stony Brook satellite location at the former Sears auto service location at the Smithhaven Mall.
Two Stony Brook Mobile Stroke Units are already in service further up the island, near exits 57 and 68 on the Long Island Expressway, said Mr. Niegelberg.
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