04/07/2026
A stroke or Cerebrovascular accident is a medical condition that interrupts blood flow to brain tissue causing tissue death. These occur due to a clot or hemorrhage.
Strokes occur in the United States every 40 seconds. Every 3 minutes and 14 seconds, someone dies from a stroke in this country. Every year over 795,000 people in the US suffer a stroke (610k are first or new strokes).
Strokes are a leading cause of death for Americans. The risk factors for a stroke vary by race and ethnicity. Risk factors include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, obesity, and diabetes. Stroke risk increases with age but they can-and do-occur at any age.
Signs and symptoms of a stroke:
• Sudden numbness or weakness in the face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body.
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking, or difficulty understanding speech.
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance, or lack of coordination.
• Sudden severe headache with no known cause.
If you notice these signs and symptoms in yourself or others, you should call 911 and seek medical care immediately. This chain of recognition and intervention can save lives when it is quickly put into action.
This is exactly what happened late last year. A patron of the district noticed a man working at his home having a medical emergency. This man displayed at least two of the classic signs and symptoms of a stroke. The patron called 911 and the man was treated and transported to a local stroke center – where he was confirmed to have had an ischemic (clot based) stroke. The clot was surgically retrieved, and the patient was discharged days later.
Quickly calling for EMS, EMS rapid recognition of the stroke and alerting the receiving facility, and transport of the patient to a definitive care center minimized brain tissue death and maximized the outcome of the patient’s story.
Today we are honored to have the crew and the caller recognized by St. Luke’s Marion Bloch Neuroscience Institute. If you have questions about CVA’s or Strokes, visit www.stroke.org , www.cdc.gov/stroke/index.html or www.strokeawareness.com for more information.
