What You Should Know About Strokes

What You Should Know About Strokes

Stoke is a disease that affects the arteries of the brain. A stroke occurs when a blood vessel bringing blood to the brain gets blocked or ruptures so brain cells don’t get the flow of blood they need. Deprived of oxygen, nerve cells can’t function and die within minutes. When nerve cells can’t function, the part of the body controlled by these cells can’t function either. The devastating effects of stroke are often permanent because dead brain cells can’t be replaced.

Warning Signs

•	Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
•	Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
•	Sudden trouble seeing with one or both eyes
•	Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
•	Sudden severe headache with no known cause

What to Do - You and your family should memorize the warning signs of stroke. Note the time symptoms started and call 911. Don’t ignore these warning signs, even if they go away! Timing is very important. An emergency medical doctor must assess you within three hours of the onset of symptoms. If someone in your family is at risk for a stroke, has high blood pressure or other health problems, make sure that everyone in the household knows what to do if the warning signs appear:
call 9-1-1.

Treatment of Stroke - Depending on the severity of the stroke, treatment may take place in a combination of programs.

Acute Inpatient Rehabilitation: Programs such as the rehabcentre offers intensive, inpatient treatment under close medical supervision by a rehabilitation physician and team of professionals. It is the most specialized and comprehensive program available and provides for at least three hours of therapy each weekday.

Subacute Rehabilitation: Subacute programs provide a coordinated but less intensive program, usually involving approximately two hours of therapy per weekday.

Home Health and Outpatient Therapy: These approaches are usually available to stroke survivors after their inpatient stays or if the stroke was a relatively mild one. A typical program will involve three visits per week with therapists, including Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy and often Speech Therapy. The actual course of treatment will vary from patient to patient and should involve the patient, family and medical team.

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