May is National Stroke Awareness Month and a great time to get informed on the signs of a stroke, how it’s treated, and the importance of seeking immediate medical care to help minimize the impact of this potentially serious condition, which can impair an individual’s physical and/or cognitive abilities.
“According to the CDC, nearly 800,000 Americans suffer a stroke annually and over 130,000 of these cases prove fatal,” said Allan Perel, MD, chief of the Department of Neurology and medical director of the Stroke Center at Richmond University Medical Center in Staten Island. “While incidences of stroke have declined a bit due to effective blood pressure control, strokes remain the No. 1 cause of significant neurological disability, and this is of particular concern on Staten Island, which has among the highest rates of smoking, obesity, and stroke of all five boroughs of New York City.”
Recognizing the Signs of a Stroke
Dr. Perel said that the user-friendly acronym ‘FAST’ – which stands for ‘Face symmetry,’ ‘Arm,’ ‘Speech,’ and ‘Time’ — has helped make strides in helping the public understand what to look for and do in the event of a stroke.
“If you or a loved one is experiencing slurred speech, weakness/numbness in an arm or on one side, facial asymmetry/drooping, or severe or new onset of headache or dizziness, you should get checked out by a medical professional,” Dr. Perel said. “Too many people decide to just lay down and take a nap on the premise that they’ll ‘sleep off’ their symptoms; more people go back to sleep than should and the fact that they don’t seek medical attention is a problem, because they then often wake up outside of the window of time when we can provide effective interventions.”
“While some people may in fact just be experiencing heartburn or another minor cause, it’s better to be safe than sorry,” he said. “Being left with a significant disability and losing independence is one of the biggest fears we have for ourselves and our families, and people experiencing stroke symptoms will have a better chance of coming through it with greater functionality if they get to a hospital sooner.”
For individuals who hesitate to seek medical care for potential stroke symptoms out of a desire to avoid the emergency room, Dr. Perel said that they’ll be fast-tracked right through. “Acute neurological symptoms that may be indicative of a stroke are taken extremely seriously at Richmond University Medical Center and these patients go to the front of the line and are treated rapidly,” he said.
The Importance of Seeking Immediate Medical Care
“If the supply of blood to the brain is cut off (in the case of an ischemic stroke), two million brain cells die per minute,” Dr. Perel said. “But studies show that the earlier a qualified stroke patient can be treated with clot-busting medications such as ‘TPA’ (which is administered over an hour) and ‘TNK’ (which can be administered in just 5-10 seconds through an IV), the better the outcome. Richmond University Medical Center is a Gold Plus-certified Advanced Primary Stroke Center with thrombectomy status and our standard is to perform a CAT scan and then get the appropriate medicine into a qualified stroke patient within an hour or less.”
For patients who require thrombolytics because their stroke is caused by a large vessel occlusion (verified by a CAT scan angiogram, or CTA), “our highly trained team of physicians, nurses, anesthesiologists, and other professionals follow a streamlined thrombectomy process to open up the artery, remove the clot, and restore blood supply quickly,” Dr. Perel said. “We’ve seen amazing results from this procedure, with patients getting better and functioning at a high level almost immediately.”
Richmond University Medical Center’s Stroke Treatment Services
“The hospitals on Staten Island, and Richmond University Medical Center in particular, operate at a very high level of competency in terms of recognizing and treating stroke,” Dr. Perel said. “Community members will get the highest level of service on Staten Island and I’m so proud of our hospital system and our ability to provide any patient who comes here with the most exceptional and cutting-edge stroke care.”
Because stroke is an acute problem for which the timeframe for treatment is very tight, “Staten Islanders shouldn’t want to be transferred to another facility, as Richmond University Medical Center has received industry-wide recognition for providing the utmost in stroke care 24/7,” Dr. Perel said. “Our experienced and highly qualified team is amazing, and they truly care about our patients.”
During Stroke Awareness Month and all year-round, “run, don’t walk to the hospital if you have any neurological symptoms,” Dr. Perel said. “You’ll be seen rapidly, and if it’s not a stroke, that’s great — but if it turns out to be a stroke, you’re in the absolute right place.”
Richmond University Medical Center is located at 355 Bard Ave. in Staten Island and can be reached at 844-934-CARE or by visiting www.rumcsi.org. For more information on Richmond University Medical Center’s Stroke Care Services, visit www.rumcsi.org/designatedstrokecenter.
— Susan Bloom
