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Margie has spent decades making a difference for patients and staff at UK HealthCare.
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A major part of Margie’s job is educating patients, staff and the community about how to recognize a stroke quickly. It’s an approach that saves lives.
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Margie is part of a larger team that makesKentucky Neuroscience Institute’s Comprehensive Stroke Center designation possible.
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“We're getting out into our community and making them aware of what to do if they're having a stroke.”
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“Strokes can occur anywhere in the hospital,” Margie says. That’s why she spends time educating all hospital staff about how to recognize a stroke.
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“I do hope I make an impact—I hope people see me as a patient advocate.”
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Margie works closely with the Interventional Radiology team to ensure that stroke patients are treated quickly and with the most effective protocols.
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``You can see Margie’s passion for the work that she does, the people she works with and the patients she cares for.”
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In her decades at UK HealthCare, Margie has seen firsthand the impact of research, education, and advanced medicine.
  1. EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE
Margie Campbell

Every Patient. Every Time.

“Every patient, every time is our nursing motto. You give all attention to that patient and their family. We want to make sure they are getting what they need here, but we also want to make sure they’re prepared to go home. You want to impact their lives after they leave the hospital.”
A thank you card taped up to a \
An assortment of pamphlets and booklets about the symptoms of stroke and stroke recovery.
Margie stands and smiles for a photo with a group of nurses next to a CT scanning machine.
Margie educates a Kentuckian on the symptoms of stroke.
Margie smiles at another nurse.
Margie educates a room full of nurses on the symptoms of stroke.
Margie talks with a nurse in a room with an x-ray machine behind them.
Margie leans over a desk to talk to the nurse behind the desk.
Margie leans against a shelf and smiles.

In her 34 years as a nurse at UK HealthCare, Margie Campbell has impacted tens of thousands of lives—in the hospital, after her patients go home, and, now, before they ever arrive. While she’s worked throughout the hospital, her current role as a Stroke Program Coordinator within the Kentucky Neuroscience Institute means she’s proactive in educating patients in recognizing and preventing strokes before they happen.

“I started out on the stroke floor, and at that time there were not many options for treatment of patients with a stroke. We took care of getting them ready for rehab and the goal was to make them as functional as possible. Now, there are actual treatments at the time of the stroke that can improve the patient’s prognosis. We are a Comprehensive Stroke Center, and that is the highest certification that there is for stroke.”

A major component of Margie’s role—and of that Comprehensive Stroke Center designation—is education. When it comes to stroke, “time is brain,” as Margie says, and every second counts. Educating the community and UK HealthCare staff about how to recognize a stroke improves response times and patient outcomes.

Since more Kentuckians are learning what a stroke looks like, “we’re seeing people call 911 more,” said Margie. And that’s a good thing. “A lot of times, patients will just go to bed and then we miss our window of what we can do to treat them.”

With Kentucky as the center of the so-called “Stroke Belt,” education and rapid response are vital when it comes to stroke. UK HealthCare’s education, outreach and advanced therapies combine to save lives and prevent future strokes.

“We have rural areas that are skilled in basic stroke care, but may not have the resources needed for finding the source of the stroke. Here at UK, as a Comprehensive Stroke Center, we have advanced testing capabilities to assist with identifying the source of the patient’s stroke and preventive measures for reducing risk of an additional stroke.”

That mission is what drives Margie. Her days start at 4:45 in the morning and she’s at the hospital by a little after 6. She splits her time between staff and education, implementing innovative new procedures for stroke care, and preparing for the upcoming Comprehensive Stroke Center recertification process—but she drops everything when her stroke alert pager goes off, as it does half a dozen times a day.

When that happens, she’s off to the emergency department or an inpatient room in the hospital, helping a Kentuckian with a suspected stroke and implementing the procedures she’s spent decades learning, improving and sharing. Every patient. Every time.

Find out more about how nurses like Margie care for stroke patients at UK HealthCare's Comprehensive Stroke Center.

Produced by UK HealthCare Brand Strategy

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