November 5 to the 9 is the week dedicated to Stroke Awareness Oregon’s F.A.S.T. awareness campaign, aimed at increasing stroke awareness and decreasing the devastating effects of stroke through rapid medical attention and supporting the recovery of stroke survivors and their caregivers.
F.A.S.T. is the acronym for the signs of a stroke. Face drooping, arm weakness, speech difficulty and time—the last one being a critical component to saving people’s lives who are having a stroke.
“This will be an annual event the goal of which is to reduce deaths due to stroke and to increase the speed with which stroke sufferers receive medical treatment,” Carol Stiles, of Stroke Awareness Oregon said.
“I spoke with a gentleman yesterday, in fact, who was having a stroke last summer. Because someone recognized his symptoms, he arrived at the hospital in time to receive the life-saving tPA drug,” she continued. “This resulted in fewer post stroke symptoms not to mention that he survived.”
As part of the awareness campaign, Stiles said this week—thanks to a cadre of dedicated volunteers, board members and staff—they are placing over 3,000 F.A.S.T. posters and flyers in locations throughout Central Oregon.
“If one in six people suffer a stroke, and we can teach 1,300 people to recognize F.A.S.T. [signs], potentially we save one life and we’ve helped over 200 receive rapid medical attention,” Stiles said.
Stiles said there is a common misconception that stroke is a disease of the elderly, but in fact anyone—any age, any gender can have a stroke—even infants. In fact the younger adult demographic is increasing in the number of strokes per year and researches are trying to determine why, Stiles said.
Stroke Awareness Oregon is a nonprofit founded physicians, stroke survivors and the community. For more information, visit strokeawarenessoregon.org.
This article appears in Oct 31 – Nov 7, 2018.
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