PBMC wins American Heart Association award for stroke care

Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead has received the American Heart Association’s 2025 Stroke Gold Plus Award for its stroke care. 

“This award is a testament to the exceptional skill and commitment of our stroke team and to our broader mission to deliver top-tier, accessible healthcare to the East End community,” PBMC President Amy Loeb said in a statement. 

The award recognizes hospitals that demonstrate at least 85% compliance in each of the American Heart Association’s seven stroke achievement measures, which are best practices for treating stroke patients. The Gold Plus Award recognizes the hospital’s performance of 24 consecutive months or longer in the program and consistent compliance with the quality mea. 

The hospital, a designated stroke center, is constructing a new neurosciences center that will equip staff with the tools necessary to diagnose and treat a wider range of neurological conditions. The center will allow the hospital to perform advanced stroke procedures, like a cerebral mechanical thrombectomy, removing the need for those patients to be transferred to other hospitals. 

Hospital officials have said the center is aiming to accept patients starting in the first quarter of next year.

“With the Bill and Ruth Ann Harnisch Neurosciences Center developing, and with national accolades like this, we are building something truly remarkable here on the East End, where patients can get the care they need, when they need it the most,” Loeb said.

Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the U.S. and the most common cause of adult disability, according to the National Institutes of Health. It occurs “when blood flow to the brain is blocked or a blood vessel inside or on the surface of the brain bursts,” according to the NIH.

PBMC also received the AHA’s Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll.