Many of us have heard stories about someone who didn’t pay attention to the signs of a stroke and later died. Recently, there has been a story circulating in our community of a woman who fell at a party but blamed it on a tripping. She denied medical attention at the time but later that night had a major stroke and passed away. Could the friends or family have done anything? They feel guilty and grieve their loss. It is hard to blame when the individual of concern denies interventions – but we can ask a few basic questions.
We, who are non-medical family members or community professionals, usually want to be safe and not sorry. So, along with the story of the woman who tripped at a party comes a checklist of four items to ask someone you suspect might have had a stroke. Sometimes it is so obvious you just call 911 and let the EMT evaluate the individual. Other times, when the person of concern denies medical attention, you can ask these questions:
1) Ask the individual to Smile.
2) As the person to Talk – just a simple coherent sentence.
3) Ask them to Raise Both Arms
If they have trouble with any of these three tasks call 911 immediately and describe the symptom.
EASY to remember because S-T-R -first 3 letters of “stroke” remind you what to ask.
4) A new sign is to also ask the person to stick out their tongue. If it is “crooked”, it goes to one side or the other that is also an indication of a stroke.
A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this information sends it to 10 people; you can bet that a least one life will be saved.
Bobby says
October 21, 2009 at 5:31 pmThank you for your valuable information on what to look for in a stroke. The smile, talk and raise both arms technique is a fast and effiecient way to determine if someone is suffering a stroke. Using the first three letters in the word stroke is also a great way of remembering this technique. All too often it is an emergency that we panic and forget what to do. Knowing these three things and having an easy system to remember them by can make all the difference in saving someone’s life. Thank you again fo your very useful information.
Bobby says
October 21, 2009 at 5:31 pmThank you for your valuable information on what to look for in a stroke. The smile, talk and raise both arms technique is a fast and effiecient way to determine if someone is suffering a stroke. Using the first three letters in the word stroke is also a great way of remembering this technique. All too often it is an emergency that we panic and forget what to do. Knowing these three things and having an easy system to remember them by can make all the difference in saving someone’s life. Thank you again fo your very useful information.