Silver Bulletin e-News Magazine

Section 1: Archives

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KNOW HOW TO RECOGNIZE A STROKE

We were sent this email and asked to share it with our friends and family to help spread the word. If we can all remember something this simple, we could save some lives.

20 March 2006
During a BBQ, my friend Ingrid stumbled and took a little fall. Although someone offered to call paramedics, she assured everyone that she was fine and had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They cleaned her up and got her a new plate of food and although she appeared a bit shaken, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later to tell us that his wife had been taken to the hospital and at 6:00pm had passed away. She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ and had anyone known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Many may not die, but instead end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

Please read on:

The neurologist said that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can usually reverse the effects of a stroke. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is sometimes tough, as we saw in Ingrid’s case. The victim may not be able to know that something serious has occurred and those around may not be able to tell either.

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE, REMEMBER THE LETTERS S-T-R.

This neurologist said that a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions that can be remembered by the letters S-T-R., which are the first three letters of S-T-R-O-K-E.

S * Smile. Ask the individual to SMILE and then stick out their tongue. If they are unable to smile or if the smile is unusually lopsided or if the tongue is goes to one side or the other, be concerned.

T * Talk. Ask the person to TALK and repeat a simple sentence, such as “It is a beautiful, sunny day.” If they cannot speak clearly and coherently, be concerned.

R * Raise. Ask them to RAISE BOTH ARMS. If they can’t raise both arms equally, be concerned.

If the person has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

If everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.