June is Stroke Month, and the Heart & Stroke Foundation is using it as an opportunity to raise awareness of the signs of the medical condition and ways it can be prevented.
The foundation says the condition hits once every five minutes in Canada, and is linked to things such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and heart health.
They say while the risk of a stroke increases as people age, it can happen to anyone – including babies.
Warning signs include a drooping face, slurred speech, and the inability of a person to raise their arms up.
Dr. Michelle Ploughman, a neuroscientist with MUN’s faculty of medicine, says if someone is experiencing any of those warning signs, it is important to call 911 because time is of the essence.
“Time is brain,” says Ploughman, explaining that when blood is cut off from the brain, neurons start dying. She says there are two treatments: one is called TPA, which she describes as a “liquid plumber” for the vessels in the brain that will clean out the blood clot; the other involves pulling the blood clot out manually using a snake.
The signs of a stroke can be remembered through the acronym FAST:
F Face, is it drooping?
A Arms, can you raise them?
S Speech, is it slurred or jumbled?
T Time to call 9-1-1 right away
