{"id":11928,"date":"2016-10-21T08:00:01","date_gmt":"2016-10-21T13:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/?p=11928"},"modified":"2016-10-21T04:18:23","modified_gmt":"2016-10-21T09:18:23","slug":"american-heart-association-urges-everyone-to-learn-fast-response-to-stroke-for-world-stroke-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/2016\/10\/21\/american-heart-association-urges-everyone-to-learn-fast-response-to-stroke-for-world-stroke-day\/","title":{"rendered":"American Heart Association urges everyone to learn \u2018FAST\u2019 response to stroke for World Stroke Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-120054 size-full\" title=\"American Stroke Association - American Heart Association\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/American-Stroke-Association.gif\" alt=\"American Stroke Association - American Heart Association\" width=\"200\" height=\"114\" \/><strong>Dallas, TX<\/strong> &#8211; When punch dribbled out of the side of Dan Merritt\u2019s mouth during a Halloween celebration at his daughter\u2019s house, his wife quickly recognized stroke signs and drove him to the hospital.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn hindsight, we did the right thing, the wrong way,\u201d Barbara Merritt said. \u201cWe should have called 911 right away. Fortunately, Dan\u2019s story turned out okay, but we know we got incredibly lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/World-Stroke-Day-2016-Infographic.jpg\"  class=\"thickbox no_icon\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-362296\" title=\"World Stroke Day 2016 Infographic. (American Stroke Association)\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/World-Stroke-Day-2016-Infographic-480x360.jpg\" alt=\"World Stroke Day 2016 Infographic. (American Stroke Association)\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" \/><\/a><!--more-->Lucky, because people who don\u2019t go to the hospital via EMS reduce the odds of getting the best treatment for stroke, according to recent American Heart Association\/American Stroke Association Get With The Guidelines-Stroke data.<\/p>\n<p>For <a href=\"http:\/\/www.strokeassociation.org\/worldstrokeday\" title=\"World Stroke Day\"  target=\"_blank\">World Stroke Day<\/a> on October 29th, the American Stroke Association will join others across the world to encourage people to save lives by responding promptly to stroke \u2014 the second leading cause of death worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a healthcare professional and as a stroke survivor myself, I can tell you that getting help quickly for stroke is more important than anything else you may be doing or have planned,\u201d said Teri Ackerson, neuroscience program coordinator at Saint Luke\u2019s Health System in Kansas City, Missouri and American Heart Association\/American Stroke Association volunteer. \u201cWhether you are the one experiencing symptoms or you see them in someone else, remember that stroke won\u2019t wait, and neither should you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>People reported varying reasons for delaying stroke treatment in an informal survey of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.strokeassociation.org\/\" title=\"American Stroke Association website\"  target=\"_blank\">American Stroke Association website<\/a> visitors:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Several hoped symptoms would resolve on their own.<\/li>\n<li>Many had other priorities, including finishing work, meeting up with family or even a scheduled hair appointment.<\/li>\n<li>Some expressed an outdated, fatalistic view of the disease.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cLooking back, the right response is clear, but in the moment, doubt and denial are natural responses to stroke signs and can lead to bad decisions,\u201d Ackerson said. \u201cThe heart-breaking thing is that for many of these patients, we might have been able to decrease disability if they would have gotten to us sooner and by ambulance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/F.A.S.T.jpg\"  class=\"thickbox no_icon\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-308635\" title=\"Spot a Stroke F.A.S.T.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/F.A.S.T-480x360.jpg\" alt=\"Spot a Stroke F.A.S.T.\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Many ischemic strokes, which account for 87 percent of all strokes and are caused by an obstruction of blood flow to the brain, can be treated with the clot-busting medication tissue plasminogen activator (IV r-tPA\/alteplase) and a stent retriever device that removes the clot.<\/p>\n<p>Research has shown that 91 percent of eligible stroke patients treated with IV r-tPA and a stent retriever in two and a half hours or less had minimal or no disability.<\/p>\n<p>[320left]\u201cThe same person who would have suffered a severely disabling or fatal stroke a few years ago now commonly walks out of the hospital a few days later,\u201d said Alexander Khalessi, M.D., director of neurovascular surgery at the University of California, San Diego and national spokesperson for the American Stroke Association\u2019s <em>Together<\/em> to End Stroke initiative. \u201cDecades ago there were no treatments for stroke. Now we have therapies that may interrupt even the most severe and disabling stroke if we can get to it in time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Through <em>Together<\/em> to End Stroke, nationally sponsored by Medtronic, the American Stroke Association teaches the acronym F.A.S.T. as an easy way to remember the most common stroke warning signs and how to respond: <strong>F<\/strong>ace drooping, <strong>A<\/strong>rm weakness, <strong>S<\/strong>peech difficulty, <strong>T<\/strong>ime to call 911.<\/p>\n<p>For more information on stroke treatment and World Stroke Day resources, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.strokeassociation.org\/\" title=\"StrokeAssociation.org\"  target=\"_blank\">StrokeAssociation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Additional Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>World Stroke Day infographic, Hearty Humor cartoon, F.A.S.T. infographics, and brain images are located in the right column of this release.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/newsroom.heart.org\/news\/para-el-dia-mundial-del-ataque-cerebral-es-urgente-aprender-el-acronimo-fast\" title=\"View this release in Spanish\"  target=\"_blank\">View this release in Spanish<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>About the American Stroke Association<\/h3>\n<p>The American Stroke Association is devoted to saving people from stroke \u2014 the No. 2 cause of death in the world and a leading cause of serious disability. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies, and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat stroke. The Dallas-based association was created in 1997 as a division of the American Heart Association.<\/p>\n<p>To learn more or to get involved, call 1.888.4STROKE or visit <a href=\"http:\/\/strokeassociation.org\/\" title=\"StrokeAssociation.org\"  target=\"_blank\">StrokeAssociation.org<\/a>. Follow us on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanStroke\"  target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/american_stroke\" title=\"Twitter\"  target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dallas, TX &#8211; When punch dribbled out of the side of Dan Merritt\u2019s mouth during a Halloween celebration at his daughter\u2019s house, his wife quickly recognized stroke signs and drove him to the hospital. \u201cIn hindsight, we did the right thing, the wrong way,\u201d Barbara Merritt said. \u201cWe should have called 911 right away. Fortunately, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[2538,2975,6930,4030,7929,6130,2543,8664],"class_list":["post-11928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-american-heart-association","tag-american-stroke-association","tag-clot","tag-dallas-tx","tag-f-a-s-t","tag-ischemic-stroke","tag-stroke","tag-world-stroke-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11928"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11929,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11928\/revisions\/11929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}