Abstract Body: Background: There is limited research describing public awareness of certified stroke treatment center designations (ASRH, PSC, TCSC, and CSC) and their capabilities when treating acute stroke. Community education focused on teaching people stroke signs, symptoms, and to call 911 promptly is vital to improve stroke care. Purpose: This study explored the public perception of stroke center designation to better understand how to educate the public and reduce transport-related treatment delays. Specifically, this study investigated the public preference for using EMS transport and their preferred type of hospital for stroke treatment. Methods: This was a prospective non-randomized observational survey of English-speaking adults at a plasma donation center in the Southwestern U.S. that sees a diverse population with a strong minority representation. The heterogeneity of subjects was also increased as patrons lived within a 100-mile radius. All subjects enrolled completed a two-question survey: would you drive to the hospital or call 911 if a loved one was having a stroke? And, would you prefer stroke treatment at an ASRH, PSC, TCSC, or CSC?. Results: Of 249 respondents, 82% responded that they would call 911 for hospital transport, and 18% would prefer to drive their family member to the hospital. Surprisingly, only 21% of respondents indicated that they perceived CSC as providing the highest quality stroke care. The majority ranked the other certified stroke centers as being preferred; 36.3% preferred treatment at an ASRH, 38.3 at a PSC, and 4.4% preferred treatment at a TCSC. Conclusion: Finding that 1 in 5 community respondents would self-drive to a hospital for stroke treatment indicates a need to both fully understand the reasons for this preference and identify mechanisms to improve educational efforts aimed at increasing the use of calling 911 to activate the chain-of-survival and use EMS for stroke transport. There is a nearly inverse relationship between stroke center certification status and public preference. Despite community-based education initiatives, this substantial knowledge gap may contribute to transport-related treatment delays if there is a need for advanced stroke treatment. These findings support the need for improved educational outreach efforts and ongoing research on their effectiveness.