By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Experts estimate that 700,000 Americans suffer new or recurrent strokes each year; of those, 150,000 die. That means one out of every 16 U.S. deaths can be attributed to stroke.
As astounding as those figures may sound, it wasn’t the numbers that made Tamera Thomas, Franklin County’s family and consumer sciences agent for the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, feel the need to help people in her community learn of the dangers associated with strokes. It was her own personal experience - at the age of 19 having watched her mother suffer a stroke.

While she survived, the ordeal took a physical and emotional toll on her mother. Now Thomas works to help others avoid that ordeal.

“It was very devastating for our family,” said Thomas, recalling the struggles her mother endured. “If we could save one person from having a stroke, it’s well worth the effort.”

Through a partnership between the Franklin County extension office and the American Heart Assoc.’s (AHA) Power to End Stroke program, people in the community are learning how to prevent, recognize and react to strokes.

While the program is helpful for everyone, it specifically targets African Americans, who the AHA says are at greater risk for stroke than their white counterparts and are nearly twice as likely to die from a first stroke.

Ron Alsup, the AHA state health alliances director who worked with Thomas to bring the Power to End Stroke program to Franklin County said there are probably many contributing factors for the greater risk factor for the African American population.

“There are probably a number of reasons for that: access to health care, the disparate risks they have in terms of hypertension and diabetes. So the numbers are pretty frightening,” said Alsup.
Thomas said, “At the time of my mother’s stroke, she was visiting friends. They called me and said we think you need to take your mom to the doctor. Had I known what those (stroke) symptoms were – had her friends known – we may have been able to get her treatment much sooner than we did and she would not have had the disability she had for the rest of her life. She survived it, but she was paralyzed on her right side.”

The American Stroke Assoc., a department of AHA, warns that time is of the essence when dealing with a stroke and that new treatments can help to reduce the effects of a stroke but only if treatment is sought within three hours of the first symptoms.

Those symptoms include: 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 in one or both eyes; sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination; and sudden, severe headache with no known cause.

“If you can get someone treatment early enough, then their risk of disability dramatically decreases,” said Alsup. “Too often people say, ‘Oh, the symptoms will go away.’ But that’s the critical time where we try to get help. There’s a lot that can be done in that window of time.”

Alsup and Thomas recently joined with Harold Benson, director of the land-grant program at Kentucky State University, to sponsor a free, open-to-the-public event on the campus of Kentucky State University which included free stroke screenings conducted by representatives from the University of Kentucky Hospital.

Approximately 150 people attended with nearly 40 receiving a screening for the disease.

Alsup is now encouraging his AHA counterparts in other states to partner with extension to provide stroke awareness. Attendees at the KSU event included extension personnel from West Virginia and Ohio, both of whom said they would like to initiate similar awareness projects in their states.

“Power to End Stroke is designed to educate and also to move people to action,” said Alsup. “Some risk factors cannot be altered, including race, age and family history of stroke, but people do have the power to make lifestyle changes that may reduce others.

They can stop smoking, lose weight, increase physical activity, see a doctor about blood pressure and cholesterol and diabetes, and follow instructions for managing these, if necessary.”

Thomas is busy making plans for future projects, including working with churches, state government and other organizations to provide educational programs for adults. She would also like to incorporate AHA’s family tree information into local schools as well as help extension offices in other parts of the state initiate stroke awareness programs.

“You can be very creative in how you do it. It’s just getting the information to them,” she said. “The knowledge helps them know they can actually do something about it – gives them a sense of empowerment, not just for themselves but for their family, friends, whomever.”

For more information about stroke visit www.americanheart.org