STROKE

STROKE: Remember The 1st Three Letters... S.T.R.My friend sent this to me and encouraged me to post it and spread theword. I agree. If everyone can remember something this simple, wecould save some folks. Seriously.. Please read:STROKE IDENTIFICATION:During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall she assuredeveryone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) and justtripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleanedup and got her a new plate of food - while she appeared a bit shakenup, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had beentaken to the hospital - (at 6:00pm , Ingrid passed away.) She hadsuffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify thesigns of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don'tdie. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead. It onlytakes a minute to read this...A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. Hesaid the trick was getting a stroke recognised, diagnosed, and thengetting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which istough.RECOGNISING A STROKEThank God for the sense to remember the "3" steps, STR . Read andLearn! Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify.Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The strokevictim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail torecognise the symptoms of a stroke.Now doctors say a bystander can recognise a stroke by asking threesimple questions:S * Ask the individual to SMILE .T * Ask the person to TALK to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)(i.e. . . It is sunny out today).R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS .NOTE : Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick'out their tongue. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one sideor the other that is also an indication of a stroke. If he or she hastrouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 000 immediately!! anddescribe the symptoms to the dispatcher.