Last month, you learned how minutes matter when it comes to getting medical help if you are having a heart attack. Your heart is a muscle, hence the term, time is muscle, which means the sooner you get to help, the better you can protect your heart muscle from damage. When it comes to having a stroke (also now called a brain attack), the term used is, time is brain. Just like a heart attack, how soon you get medical help can be the difference between life and death and/or your future quality of life. Together, the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American Stroke Association (ASA) warn us that minutes matter here too. This is why they use the acronym F.A.S.T., teaching people how to spot a stroke fast.
What is a stroke?
Your brain needs oxygen to survive. The blood vessels that bring oxygen to your brain are called arteries. A stroke occurs when the blood flow in one or more of these arteries is cut off or significantly reduced, preventing life-saving oxygen from feeding your brain. This happens because of a clot (ischemic stroke) or by bursting and bleeding out (hemorrhagic stroke). When either of these happens, brain cells die.
The quicker you can open a blocked artery, the better chance you have to survive and prevent further brain damage. Hence the term, time is brain as mentioned above. It takes only minutes without oxygen for damage to occur to your brain; every minute can result in more damage. Stroke is the #4 killer and the #1 preventable cause of disability in America. Reaching a hospital within one hour of the onset symptoms can make the difference between life and death or a debilitating disability.
Know stroke symptoms and act FAST!
The AHA and ASA tell us to Spot a Stroke F.A.S.T., which stands for:
F=Face drooping. Does one side of the face droop or is it numb? Ask the person to smile.
A=Arm weakness. Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm droop
downward?
S=Speech difficulty. Is speech slurred, are they unable to speak, or are they hard to understand? Ask
the person to repeat a simple sentence, like “the sky is blue.” Is the sentence repeated correctly?
T=Time to call 9-1-1. If the person shows any of these symptoms, even if the symptoms go away, call
9-1-1 and get them to the hospital immediately.
Beyond F.A.S.T., what more you should know?
The AHA and ASA also tell us to take heed to these symptoms:
- Sudden numbness or weakness of the leg
- Sudden confusion or trouble understanding
- Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
- Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
- Sudden severe headache and no known cause
What you should do if you think someone is having a stroke?
- Call 9-1-1 immediately and ask for an ambulance to be sent because you think someone is having a stroke.
- Note the time of when the first stroke symptoms started. This is important because a clot- busting medicine called tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) may help an ischemic stroke if given right away. It needs to be given within 4.5 hours of the onset of the symptoms.
- Warning strokes, also called mini-strokes are transient ischemic attacks (TIA). The symptoms mimic a stroke, but usually last only a few seconds or minutes. People who have TIAs have an increased risk for having a stroke. Recognizing and treating TIAs can help one prevent having a stroke.
Where should one go for medical treatment if one is having a stroke?
Remember, time is brain. It is recommended that if appropriate, someone be treated with tPA within one hour of reaching the hospital. That means the health care facility be prepared. There is plenty to do within that one hour to properly diagnose and treat someone correctly to save his or her life and quality of life.
Hospitals have different proficiency levels to care for people having a stroke. The AHA/ASA guidelines recommend that emergency medical personnel know what hospitals are equipped to best treat and manage people who are having a stroke and reroute patients to those hospitals with more capabilities.
The various levels of stroke care are:
- Comprehensive stroke centers offer highly specialized treatment for all types of strokes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Primary stroke centers offer specialized care mainly for ischemic stroke 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Acute stroke-ready hospitals that can evaluate and treat most strokes, but do not have the highly specialized capabilities the comprehensive or primary stroke centers have.
Be proactive. Know where you and your loved ones want to be taken before ever having stroke.
Check out:
- The Joint Commission’s Advanced Certification Comprehensive Stroke Centers at http://www.jointcommission.org/certification/advanced_certification_comprehensive_stroke_centers.aspx
- The American Heart Association’s “Find award-winning hospitals near you at http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthcareResearch/MyHealthcare/QI-Find-your-Hospital_UCM_441814_SubHomePage.jsp
Better yet, learn about and take actions to prevent a stroke.
Learn more at:
- National Stroke Association’s Stroke Prevention http://www.qualitycheck.org/StrokeCertificationList.aspx
- Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention at http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/index.htm
Joy Pape, RN BSN CDE WOCN FAADE, EnJOY Life! Health Consulting, LLC, www.joypape.com
