Starting a stroke awareness campaign has been my most significant achievement, because of its meaningful impact on the health of my community. While working as a scribe in the Good Samaritan Emergency Room, I met a patient who went to sleep unknowing that she was having a stroke. If she were able to recognize the symptoms earlier, her prognosis would have been much better. I felt great empathy towards her, as if she had been horribly cheated—she was in a race to save her life but didn’t hear the starting claxon go off. I refused to be idle knowing such a drastic public health issue remained unresolved, so I scoured the internet for educational resources and took to the streets of Gilroy to spread awareness the very next day. My initiative is
There are three types of strokes that cause changes to the brain: Hemorrhagic stroke,Intracerebral hemorrhage and Transient ischemic attack (TIA). Ischemic stroke is the most common form of stroke, accounting for around 87% of strokes.
Stroke is seen as a major health concern and this is due to the fact that every year, as many as 110,000 individuals suffers from strokes making it a key issue. (NHS 2014)
Additionally, testimonies of people who have been personally affect by a stroke on adverts is also another effective way to capture people’s attention on how critical it is to act fast when someone is suffering a stroke and by advertising the symptoms on adverts, posters, billboards and leaflets people will be prepared ore because they will have the correct knowledge on what to do in that situation. For example, Sas Freeman aged 52, had two strokes in six months. Sas didn't call 999 on her first stroke and waited for a GP appointment because she wasn’t able to identify that she had just suffered a stroke due to lack of information on the illness . As a result of waiting, she suffered long-lasting effects to her mobility, independence and speech. Sas’ second stroke was quickly spotted by her carer who quickly called 999, and as a result, the stroke left no lasting damages. “I wish I'd known to call 999 quicker when I had my first stroke, as I know my recovery and rehabilitation would have been better. I am so thankful that my carer knew to act fast on my second stroke, and probably saved my life.” http://www.nhs.uk/actfast/Pages/strokerecovery.aspx#2mX2dDwy4dceF2lB.97
As stated in Acute Stroke Intervention (Prabhakaran, Ruff, & Bernstein, 2015), one of the leading causes of death and disability in the United States are strokes. Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) results when an artery that is supplying the brain becomes blocked, this occurrence leads to cell death of brain tissue. Improving brain function after an ischemic stroke is of high priority for clinical research. General consensus shows that administration of intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (IV rtPA) therapy is helpful when introduced within 4.5 hours of ischemic stroke symptom onset. The benefit of intravenous (IV rtPA) lessens when the onset of symptoms goes beyond 4.5 hours. The use of (IV rtPA) is contraindicated when there is
Strokes are caused by a block in the blood supply to the brain which causes a decrease in oxygen and delivery of other important supplies which facilitate proper functioning. Fifteen million cases are reported worldwide annually, although not all of these cases are mortalities, the large prevalence of strokes ranks it as the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. (Figueroa) Because of the time sensitivity associated with the lack of resources to the brain, strokes are considered a medical emergency and early recognition of symptoms can help decrease the amount of damage caused . Although strokes do not always cause death, strokes most often leave the individual with some physical and cognitive impairment.
After having a massive stroke in 2007, my mother ended up with paralysis on the right side of her body. Twenty-two years old at the time, I wouldn’t know the proper ways to take care of a post-stroke patient without the help of the home health nurses. Receiving the training from the Innovage Long Term Care, I became my mother’s relative caregiver to assist her activities of daily living. During that time, I continued working as a pharmacy technician and going to school, but it was quite a transition to be a caregiver on top of work and school, I decided to take some time off from school to take care of my mother.
Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States and the leading cause of disability, with ischemic stroke comprising more than 80% of total stroke cases. Ischemic stroke is caused by obstruction of blood vessels supplying blood to the brain by thrombus or embolus. Recombinant tissue plasminogen activation (rtPA) is currently the only approved acute treatment for ischemic stroke. ROS production is significant increased as soon as the occlusion occurs. If blood clots were removed in a timely manner, significant brain damage could be avoided. Cells in the ischemic core region usually die of infarction, while cells adjacent to the infarct region, penumbra, could be saved by appropriate therapeutic strategies. The residual blood
The Fourth stroke is the sidestroke. The sidestroke is not used in competition, but it holds importance for swimmers because you can use it to rescue someone, since it only requires one arm. You will float on your side, reach up, like when picking an apple, and then reach down, like when putting the apple into a basket. You can glide in between strokes and that allows you to move easily through the water while tugging along some person or thing. Your starting position will be lying on your side. Stretch your body, extend your legs and point your toes. You should also stretch your hands and keep them far apart. Keep your head out of the water and angle it towards your hip so you can maintain your balance. A lot of the power comes from the legs.
First I feel that, it is important to understand the clinical manifestation of the different strokes. The Ischemic stroke can cause a wide range of neurologic symptoms depending on the location and the size of the effective area. Patients may present with symptoms, such as, numbness or weakness of the face, arms, legs, more so, one side of the body, changes in moody or behavior, trouble with speaking or understanding speech, visual disturbances, having difficulty in walking, dizziness or loss of balance and sudden server headaches. Hemorrhagic stroke has, also, presents with the same clinical manifestation as a Ischemic stroke, however, most patients complain of server headache.
The sudden death of brain cells due to lack of oxygen, caused by blockage of blood flow or rupture of an artery to the brain. Sudden loss of speech, weakness, or paralysis of one side of the body can be symptoms. A suspected stroke may be confirmed by scanning the brain with special X-ray tests, such as CAT scans. The death rate and level of disability resulting from strokes can be dramatically reduced by immediate and appropriate medical care. Prevention involves minimizing risk factors, such as controlling high blood pressure and diabetes. Abbreviated CVA. Also known as cerebrovascular.
There are many risk factors associated with stroke. The more risk factors a person has, the greater the chance that he or she will have a stroke. Some of these you have no control of, such as increasing age, family health history, race and gender. But you can change or treat most other risk factors to lower your risk. The chance of having a stroke more than doubles every decade after the age of 55. The chance is greater in people who have a family history of stroke. African Americans have a much higher risk of disability and death from a stroke than whites, in part because blacks have a greater incidence of high blood pressure, a major stroke risk factor. Overall, the incidence of stroke is about equal for men and women. However, at all
When people become older, they tend to have several health problems such as heart attack, cardiovascular and stroke. To illustrate, stroke is one of the reasons which can cause disability for most young people in the United States, according to ASA. There are two kinds of stroke: ischemic and hemorrhagic.
A stroke occurs when blood flow to an area of the brain gets cut off. When this happens, brain cells are deprived of oxygen and begin to die. When the brain cells die during a stroke, abilities controlled by the area of the brain which is memory and muscle control loss. A person with a small stroke can have minor problems like temporary weakness of a leg or arm. People who have larger strokes may be paralyzed on one side of their body or lose their ability to speak. Some of the symptoms of strokes are severe sudden headaches, dizziness accompanied with vomiting, trouble walking, loss of balance and altered consciousness. When diagnosing strokes, doctors use blood tests, CT scans, MRI’s, carotid ultrasound, cerebral angiogram, and echocardiogram. There are three types of
In addition to helping the media, by providing information that enables them to do their jobs, we are showing the American Heart/American Stroke Association’s
I lost already one person due to a stroke, and considering that only in the US one person dies of stroke every 4 minutes, by the time I will finish writing this post unfortunately several more people will have died. The reason why I decided to write this post is to help other people recognize the early symptoms of strokes and giving them a chance to call for help in a timely manner. Even a few minutes can greatly increase the chances of survival, so if you know somebody with high risk for a stroke please read carefully.