Speaker 2: Headache. Let's see what's on that other thing, here. Help! Somebody... it hurts...
something's wrong with me, please somebody call... help me help me please. Speaker 1:
Hey Carol, I heard you yell out for some help? So listen, can you tell me what's going on?
Speaker 2: I don't feel good. Speaker 1: You don't feel good? Speaker 2: No, my head hurts,
my neck. I just don't feel good. Speaker 1: I see your remote down here. Did you drop
it? Speaker 2: Yeah, I was trying to change the channel. Speaker 1: Can you do something
for me? Can you smile at me a second? A big smile? Okay, good. Listen, I am gonna hold
your arms up here a moment, I don't want you to let them drop. Just hold them both even.
Okay, good you can rest your arms again. Can you say, I love my husband more than anybody?
Speaker 2: I love- Speaker 1: Okay good, that's good. What time do you think this started?
Was it, can you, was it recently, was it long time ago? Just nod your head up or down if
it was recently? Speaker 2: Yeah Speaker 1: Okay, Carol, I don't wanna alarm you, but
I think you're showing enough symptoms that we should suspect something serious, and we
should call for help, and get an ambulance on the way. The hospital can certainly help
you, but you're having enough signs and symptoms that I am concerned that it could be a stroke,
not that I am for sure, but I know that at the hospital they can take better care of
you there than here at your home. Listen, I think we're gonna give the ambulance a call,
and then if there is nothing you'll buy some peace of mind okay. Okay, okay, and I am not
gonna leave you either. I am gonna stay right here, so don't worry about that. Now, let's
take a closer look at what a stroke is, how the signs and symptoms help indicates to us
that its an emergency, and then what to do in case we recognize those signs and symptoms.
So, a stroke has been said to be like an heart attack, but in the brain, and the reason why
that analogy works is because we know more about what causes strokes, and most of the
time in many cases, the reason they're having a stroke is very similar to the reasons we're
having a heart attack. Something has dislodged and blocked a vessel in the brain, and is
now starving that brain tissue of oxygenated blood which is now begin to show affects neurologically
in the patient's body. Now, it can also be caused from a breakage or a bursting of a
blood vessel. A hemorrhagic stroke is normally caused from an aneurysm, and is treated differently
that we treat strokes from a blockage of a blood clot, or a fatty clot. Let's talk about
the fast. The acronym fast is a way for us to be able to check systematically if the
patient is showing enough signs and symptoms that we should be concerned that they might
be suffering from a stroke, and then activate emergency medical services. So let's break
down those for a moment. F stands for facial drop. One of the ways to see this when its
maybe not real drastic is to have the patient smile at you. When they smile, does one corner
of the mouth hang lower than the other? Then, we move to A which stands for arm. Arm is
when we raise both patient's arms in front of them, and the same side that they have
facial drop, the arm lists and kind of floats away from the other arm. They're not able
to hold the arm up like they can the first arm that's not affected. Then, we talk about
S, S stands for Slurred speech. To get them to say something to you, because they're probably
be very panicked at this point. I like to give them a humorous sentence to say back
to me, or maybe something about themselves, or their date of birth, if they seem to be
slurring their speech, then that falls into that category of S for stroke symptoms, and
then lastly T. T stands for time. What time did the symptoms begin? The reason that this
is important, and why we wanna write this down is to make sure we tell the responding
medical services is because, the time of the essence. If we're going to try to recirculate
the oxygenated blood back to their brain tissue, and help this patient recover with his little
long lasting damage as possible. So, if a patient starts to show that signs and symptoms
under the fast acronym, we know that it is important for us to reassure the patient that
we're gonna take good care of them, we're not going to dessert them, but we're going
to activate 911 or the emergency medical services, so that we can expedite the treatment of this
patient, and help them regain as much quality of life as possible.