Welcome back to New Day Northwe.
According to the CDC, every 40 seconds,
someone in the United States has a stroke,
and every 3 1/2 minutes,
someone dies of stroke.
Well, we want to make sure that you all
know about the warning signs out there
to be aware of when it comes to stroke.
And joining me now is
Doctor Stephen O'Donnell,
neurologist and medical director for the
stroke program at Overlake Medical Center.
Welcome to new day.
Thank you for being here.
Good to be here.
So let's talk first about where you work.
It's the east side neuroscience.
Institute.
What is that?
So Overlake hospital and Evergreen health
in Kirkland have combined forces to create
the Eastside Neuroscience Insti.
We're leveraging our clinical expertise,
technology and resources to tryo
deliver the best care we can to patients
with neurological disease. And I
love that you came together to do that.
Let's talk about the nitty gritty here.
What is a stroke and how is it caused?
A stroke is a disruption
of blood flow to the brain.
So either in the United States,
most strokes are caused by a blood clot.
Blocking flow.
But also if a blood vessel
breaks open in the brain,
any disruption leads to stroke
and in minutes brain cells die.
So we like to say time is brain,
time is brain. That is importan.
What are the leading factors of
stroke and how can they prevent?
There's several things like high
cholesterol, high blood pressur,
smoking and diabetes or some of
the leading causes of stroke.
And really to prevent stroke you want
to try to have a healthy lifest.
Which is a regular exercise,
good diet, control your blood pressure
and check in with your doctor,
yeah? That is key.
It is key to make sure you're
telling your doctor everything.
Right? Like, don't lie.
Hmm. Yeah. We we hope that you can trust
us and yeah, tell us what's goin
because it's important.
Like, I know, look,
some of us do things we're
not proud of, and that's OK.
It's important to tell your docr
because these are the things tht
you are here to help us with
and you are here to share.
So what are the signs and
symptoms of a stroke?
So I like to use the acronym called B Fast.
So any sudden change in your balance?
Eye or vision loss.
F is for facial droop or weakne.
OK, arm weakness or speech difficulty.
It's time to call 911 and
get yourself to a hospital.
OK, everyone, I'm gonna leave this up here.
It used to just be fast.
We were talking about this.
The face drooping.
A for arm weakness,
S for speech and difficulty,
T for time to call 911.
But the B part is something
that I hadn't realized.
So let's go over that again.
Be balance issues, sudden onset,
EI envision sudden loss.
Those are things that I don't t.
Many people knew about when andy
did they decide to add that paro
it. A lot of strokes you could
present in different ways.
And we were finding that peoplee
waiting too long to come in who
had some other symptoms, got it.
But including that vision loss or sudden
Vertigo or balance issues whereu
just can't walk and you don't know why,
that can be a stroke too.
OK. When it comes to H, you kno,
we've been hearing more and more about
people having this at a younger,
but I think if, let's say if
you're in your 30s and this.
This is happening like stroke
is not what you think.
What age is, is stroke affecting people?
Stroke does affect people as
they are older. But you're righ,
it can affect people at any age.
And it kind of depends on risk
factors and other genetic cause.
Sometimes can allow people to
have a stroke earlier on. Yeah,
wow, OK. This is such good information.
I'm so glad you came to share t.
How can people learn more?
We have a website
itscalledeastsideneuroinstituteg
and there you could learn more
about stroke and the treatmentse
provide to prevent it from ther.
And you're providing treatments
to prevent it too, which is gre.
You have to come back and tell
us all about that, I hope.
I would love to thank you so much for
your time and all this informat.
We so appreciate you.
And to learn more about what we discussed
today, visit the website on your screen,
Eastside neuroinstitute.org.
You can also visit the link on
New Day's website.
But most importantly.
Think about your health.
If you have any concerns,
do not hesitate.
Be fast.
Alright, spring is in the air.
But before you pull out those
tired old Easter decorations,
we've got some new decor ideas t
are full of whimsy and delight.
We'll be right back. One of new.