UK HealthCare

UK HealthCare/Norton Healthcare – Stroke Care Network Expands to Irvine

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 30, 2021) — The UK HealthCare/Norton Healthcare – Stroke Care Network (SCN) is announcing its 37th affiliate as Mercy Health – Marcum and Wallace Hospital joins the system.

Founded in 1959, Marcum and Wallace Hospital is a licensed 25-bed critical access hospital located in Irvine, Kentucky. Marcum and Wallace is the only hospital in the four-county service area and provides inpatient acute care, outpatient services and emergency services with a Level 4 trauma center. The hospital has primary care clinics in Irvine, Beattyville and Clay City. Marcum and Wallace Hospital is characterized by its family-centered care, community involvement, and progressive ideas in health care.  

“Minutes matter when a patient is having a stroke, and that’s why Mercy Health – Marcum and Wallace Hospital is pleased to join the SCN. This affiliation will help our patients receive the right treatment at the right time to give them the best possible outcome following a stroke," said Trena Stocker, president of Mercy Health – Marcum and Wallace Hospital. "In addition, our doctors, hospital staff and community members will benefit from the education programs we can access through this relationship.”

Stroke Care Network services are designed to help hospitals provide the highest quality clinical care. This mission is supported through comprehensive educational programs for providers, staff and community members, as well as robust continuous quality improvement. 

“Network affiliation is intended to optimize the care patients receive during the early moments of a stroke, when diagnosis and rapid treatment are most important, and this collaboration supports our mutual mission of keeping as many patients as possible close to home,” said Lisa Bellamy, managing director of the SCN.

Kentucky has among the highest rates of stroke-related deaths in the country, with more 2,000 Kentuckians dying from stroke or stroke-related complications each year. Interim medical director of the SCN, Larry B. Goldstein, M.D., says having another hospital join the network will contribute to the growth of systems of care across the state to improve stroke prevention and the best possible outcomes for those who have had a stroke.

“The SCN has been very successful, providing not only individualized programs supporting stroke care to hospitals, but education for providers updating them on state-of-the-art treatment approaches and tools for reaching out to their local communities to enhance stroke prevention and acute responses,” said Goldstein, who is also chairman of the University of Kentucky Department of Neurology, and co-director of the Kentucky Neuroscience Institute

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.