NEW BEDFORD, Mass. - Know your risk factors of stroke and how it can be prevented, identify how to recognize the signs and symptoms and how to minimize the effects of stroke by acting FAST. During the months of May and June, Southcoast Hospitals Group will be sending out free recipes, bilingual tip cards and magnets to help you live a healthy lifestyle.
Call the Southcoast Wellness Line at 800-497-1727 or visit www.southcoast.org/stroke/
     
By remembering to act FAST, you can help minimize the disabilities of a person showing the symptoms of stroke.    
Face - does the face look uneven?    
Arm - does one arm sag or drift down?    
Speech - does speech sound strange?  
Time - Call 911 immediately.

     
“There are new therapies available to reverse the symptoms of stroke.
Clinical trials have established that thrombolytic therapy such as tPA, a ‘clot-busting’ drug, is an effective treatment for acute “ischemic” stroke. The tPA therapy must be given within three-hours of the start of symptoms,” said Nancy Edwards, MD, Medical Director for the Tobey Hospital Stroke Program.
      
“Every step in the process takes time; it takes about an hour for the hospital to gather all of the necessary lab tests and x-rays needed to determine if the therapy may be given.  That means that you must get to the hospital within two hours of the start of your symptoms.”
     
     
According to Southcoast Hospitals’ Quality Outcomes Manager for Stroke, “a good majority of people who come to the hospital with stroke and TIA (transient ischemic attack) symptoms are well beyond the three hour window.”
     
“We need to heighten awareness similar to heart attack prevention.
The greatest limitation to current stroke therapy is the time delay before patients seek treatment.  If you have symptoms of stroke, seek care immediately and call 911,” Crowell said. 

What is a stroke?
 
The American Stroke Association defines a stroke as a type of cardiovascular disease that affects the arteries leading to and within the brain. Stroke can be caused either by a clot obstructing the flow of blood to the brain or by a blood vessel rupturing and preventing blood flow to the brain. If a stroke occurs and blood flow can't reach the region that controls a particular body function, that part of the body won't work as it should. The faster you receive treatment, the less damage will occur.
     
Treatment is just minutes away. Did you know that when you come to one of the hospital emergency departments with symptoms of a stroke, a team of individuals is available to quickly diagnose and treat you? Charlton Memorial Hospital, St. Luke’s Hospital and Tobey Hospital have been designated by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) as providers of Primary Stroke Services. The State’s designation assures that the Southcoast Hospitals Group emergency diagnostic and therapeutic services are provided by a multidisciplinary team and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to patients presenting with symptoms of acute stroke.

Symptoms
     
Common symptoms of stroke include numbness and weakness of the face and limbs, loss of balance and coordination, and loss of speech.  Bleeding strokes can cause severe headache and vomiting. Symptoms of stroke can vary depending on the type of stroke and what area of the brain is involved.  Some strokes occur because an artery going to the brain is blocked.  Some strokes occur when a blood vessel ruptures and allows blood to escape into the brain or surrounding fluid. 

Prevention
     
Prevention of stroke is very similar to prevention of heart attack.  To prevent strokes, don’t smoke, keep high blood pressure and diabetes under good control, take an aspirin a day to keep platelets from clumping  together and keep cholesterol levels down.  If you have a heart rhythm problem called atrial fibrillation, contact your doctor about which prevention medications are right for you.  Never stop any of your medications or treatments without discussing with your doctor.

Southcoast Health System

Southcoast Health System, a not-for-profit charitable organization, is a community based health delivery system with multiple access points, offering an integrated continuum of advanced health services throughout Southeastern Massachusetts and East Bay, Rhode Island. It includes Southcoast Hospitals Group, formed in 1996 from the merger of Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford and Tobey Hospital in Wareham.

Southcoast has more than 40 ancillary facilities, including the Southcoast Health Van, home health care, hospice and infusion services, numerous outpatient medical services, an assisted living facility and a wellness center. For more information visit www.southcoast.org.

Southcoast is one of three community hospitals approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to perform open heart surgery and primary angioplasty beginning in Spring 2002.

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