Fair kicks off stroke awareness week

Continuing its efforts to bring preventive medicine into the community, Newton Memorial Hospital held a Stroke Awareness Fair this past Tuesday, September 12. Newton hospital recently received a grant designating them as a primary stroke center. The grant allows them funding to reach out to the county and teach not just the warning signs for a stroke, but preventive measures and what to do if it happens. A stroke is similar to a heart attack, in that a blockage in an artery occurs, but, with a stroke, the blockage occurs in the brain. “A stroke, or brain attack, will affect each person differently, but the outcome can result in impaired speech and vision, interfere with mobility, understanding, reasoning, and even memory,” said Dr. David Meltz, vice president of medical affairs at the hospital. Dr. Metz offers the example of “tying one’s arm behind your back for a day, and see how you get along.” At the Emmy’s a few weeks ago, Dick Clark was honored, and he came out and spoke. Clark is the national spokesperson for stroke awareness and a wonderful example of recovery and survival after a major stroke. Meltz explained NMH has been offering a treatment called Fibrinolytic, more commonly known as a clot buster drug, for patients for almost 20 years now. First used as a treatment for patients suffering heart attacks, in the last 5 years it has become a common way to handle qualified patients suffering a stroke. The aim of the fair is to make the public aware of the signs and symptoms of a stroke, and try to prevent the stroke from happening in the first place. According to New Jersey’s Department of Health and Senior Services, 3,914 people died of a stroke in New Jersey in 2003, 42 of which were from Sussex County. Even more are disabled due to strokes, with strokes being the primary cause of permanent disability. It is estimated that nationally $56 billion a year is spent on health care, disability pay, occupational therapy, medications and housing for stroke survivors. NMH uses the Cincinnati Stroke Scale system to identify the presence of a stroke in a patient, and has now adopted the acronym FAST to help teach its signs and symptoms: F- Face. Ask the person to smile and notice if one side of their face droops. A- Arms. Ask the person to raise their arms and notice if one arm drifts downward. S- Speech. Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence and notice if their words are slurred or if they repeated it properly. T- Time is extremely important. If those symptoms occur, call 911 immediately. According to Carole Boutilier, the new stroke coordinator, and a nurse at the hospital, “A person waits an average of 23 hours before coming to the hospital. We need people to learn to come in right away so that we can help them.’’ In order to qualify for the Clot-busting treatment, patients have to get in quick, as the window of opportunity to use the medicine effectively is very small, about 2-3 hours from symptom occurrence. And that has to include nurse and physician assessment, blood tests, lab tests, and a cat scan. If it is too late for the medicine to be effective, patients are then transferred to Overlook Hospital in Summit, an Atlantic Health affiliate which NMH works with. The window of opportunity for surgery is slightly larger, but time is still a very important factor for survival. Not only does the Stroke Center want to teach awareness of symptoms, but ways to identify risk factors and how to modify one’s lifestyle to change the risks we have control over. Examples of risk factors we have no control over are family history, diabetes, gender (predominately male until age 55, then male and female are equally at risk) and’ Arterial Fibrillation (an irregular heart rhythm). Risks we take and do have control over are smoking, alcohol or drug abuse, proper diet and exercise, medications to control blood pressure, stress relief and reduction, high cholesterol and maintaining a normal weight — there are many complications from obesity, according to Dr. Meltz. The health education the Stroke Center is doing is ongoing. Twice a year a program at the hospital for the community is done, the next one being Sept. 28, by hospital neurologists to teach stroke awareness.’ The Stroke Center also teaches hospital staff and EMS personnel “to reinforce recognition of a stroke,” says Boutilier. Mary Reasoner, director of medical programs, stated, “The purpose of educating our staff and the EMS is to create a team to improve stroke care.” For information on how to attend the community outreach seminars or for presentations, call 973-579-8340.