Virginia

My husband, Paul Berger, suffered a stroke over 25 years ago at the age of 36, when he was at the gym exercising.  He had the worst headache ever, and was suffering from extreme dizziness. He asked the attendant at the desk for an aspirin.  Fortunately, they called an ambulance.  If he had been at home, I would not have recognized the symptoms, and probably would have killed him by giving him a dose of aspirin.  He was experiencing a ruptured aneurysm, blood gushing out of a hole in a large blood vessel leading to his brain.  The aspirin would have hastened the bleeding.

Stroke is the 4^th leading cause of death, and a leading cause of disability among adults.  According to the American Stroke Association, about 795,000 Americans suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year, stroke kills more than 128,000 people a year, and more than $38 billion is spent each year on stroke-related medical costs and disability.

Strokes occur among people of all ages, and among otherwise healthy-looking women and men.  Eighty percent of strokes are caused by clots in blood vessels in the brain blocking the flow of oxygen and nutrients to brain cells; 20 percent are caused by ruptured vessels killing brain cells with a flood of lethal blood.

When Paul had his stroke, even state-of-the-art care couldn’t locate the rupture and while we waited a week in the hospital to repeat the tests, he had a second bleeding episode, leaving him severely disabled.  Today, thanks to advances in imaging and interventional neuroradiology, there’s a much better track record in finding and treating ruptured aneurysms.

For the 80 percent suffering clot-induced strokes, getting to the hospital immediately will allow time to diagnose and begin treatment using clot-busting drugs.  Unfortunately, there’s a small window of time for this treatment, about 3 to 4 hours from the first sign of stroke.  The sooner the person having the stroke gets to the hospital, the sooner appropriate treatment can begin.

Since the person suffering the stroke often cannot act to call 9-1-1, everyone should learn the warning signs, and to act quickly.  It is much better to call an ambulance immediately than to wait to see if the symptoms go away.  This means that spouses, co-workers, friends, children and grandchildren need to learn the signs and how to act immediately, even if the person having the stroke seems resistant.

An easy way to remember the symptoms of stroke is “F.A.S.T.” for:

• F:  Face Drooping.  Does one side of the face droop or is it numb? Ask the person to smile.
• A:  Arm Weakness.  Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
• S:  Speech Difficulty.  Is speech slurred, are they unable to speak, or are they hard to understand?  Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence, like “the sky is blue.”  Is the sentence repeated correctly?
• T:  Time to call 9-1-1. If the person shows any of these symptoms, even if the symptoms go away, call 9-1-1 and get them to the hospital immediately.

The American Stroke Association, part of the American Heart Association, and the National Stroke Association have many helpful tools for educating yourself and others about stroke.  Learn about it today.  If it could happen to my otherwise healthy husband, then it could happen to you, or to your loved ones.

Ask Your Representative to Support Stroke Awareness Today!

**Blog content provided by You’re the Cure Virigina member, Stephanie Mensh.**

Throughout the summer months, Members of Congress return to their home states for in-district work periods, or recesses, which present an important opportunity for advocates to talk with their Representative and Senators about pressing heart disease and stroke policy issues.  Here are some tips for getting the most out of the summer recesses…

1)      Make a note of when the recesses are scheduled:

2)      Contact the American Heart Association Advocacy staff in your state to let them know you’re interested in helping during the summer recesses.  They will be able to provide you with information on the hot heart and stroke issues we’re urging Congress to act on and recommend ways to connect with your legislators.      

3)      Visit your legislators’ website to sign-up for their e-newsletter and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.  These are great ways to know about the events your Members of Congress will be attending or hosting during the various recess periods.  From town hall meetings, to summer office hours, to parades they’ll be marching in, there are many opportunities to chat with your lawmakers about their support for key heart and stroke issues. 

Have you visited with your Members of Congress during recess periods in the past?  Tell us about it in the comments below!

We want to invite you to ignite a conversation about stroke to help educate those around you as we enter into American Stroke Month.  Stroke is the No. 4 cause of death and a leading cause of long-term preventable disability in the United State, yet Americans don’t consider stroke to be a major health concern.

What is a stroke? A stroke occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients in the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts.  When this occurs, part of the brain can no longer get the blood and oxygen it needs, so that portion of the brain dies.

Thankfully there are some tools that can be used to help recognize stroke symptoms early to help decrease the amount of damage in the brain.  One of these tools that the American Heart Association promotes is the acronym F.A.S.T.

F.A.S.T is an acronym used for recognizing and responding to the sudden warning signs of stroke.  The letters stand for:

• Face Dropping – Ask the person to smile.  Does one side of the face droop or is it numb?
• Arm Weakness– Ask the person to raise both arms. Is one arm weak or numb? Does one arm drift downward?
• Speech Difficulty– Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence, like “the sky is blue.” Is the sentence repeated correctly? Are they unable to speak, or are they hard to understand?
• Time to call 9-1-1– If the person shows any of these symptoms, even if the symptoms go away, call 9-1-1 and get them to the hospital immediately.

To learn more about stroke, the effects of stroke, and how to spread the word about stroke click here.

Do you have a personal story about stroke?  If so, we would love to hear it! Click here and share your story today.

Did you know about F.A.S.T?  Have you thought of ways to share with your friends and family?  If so, tell us about it in the comments section!

Every single day, all over the country, lives are saved and improved because of you. Thanks to your commitment, talent, and passion as a volunteer, Americans are living healthier and lowering their chances of heart disease and stroke.

In honor of National Volunteer Week, we'd like to take a moment to say thank you for the difference you make in so many lives! Please click on the link below and you'll see why!

From the bottom of our hearts--we want to Thank You for all you do!

Just in time for the cherry blossoms blooming in DC, more than 300 American Heart Association and American Stroke Association advocates from across the county descended upon our nation's capitol, eager to request the restoration of federal funding to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and support for the Million Hearts Campaign.

The American Heart Association relies on research funded by the NIH. With the recent sequester slashing the NIH budget by nearly $1.5 billion, about 2,300 research grants will go unfunded, causing a reduction in both the job market and economic activity. A typical NIH grant supports about seven full-time or part-time jobs, most of them high-tech. Every dollar that the NIH distributes through grants returns more than $2 in goods and services annually to the community.

Armed with the names of 6,000 advocates who signed the "Many Hearts, One Voice for Medical Research" petition, this group of volunteers, survivors, researchers, and healthcare professionals joined forces with thousands of advocates, representing over 200 patient groups and research institutions. Together, they attended the Rally for Medical Research on Monday to urge Congress to make research funding a national priority.

The following day, advocates met with their Senators and Congressmen to share their own personal stories, driving home the need for medical research funding.

Advocates attending voiced their passion for the effort, many expressing how impactful it was to be able to deliver these important requests personally to their legislators and their staff members.

Jodi Lemacks, Virginia

In June of 2003, my third child, Joshua, was born via c-section.  Diagnosed with a Critical Congenital Birth Defect (CCHD) before birth, he was immediately whisked away to the hospital next door for his first of three open heart surgeries, without me even getting a glimpse of him.  The first time I saw Joshua the next day, it was hard to see the baby beneath the tubes and wires hooked up to him.  It felt surreal, like I couldn’t possibly be looking at my own baby. 

Joshua managed to survive the first surgery, but then struggled against infections and other complications for almost two months.  My husband and I, along with Joshua’s brothers and other relatives, stood by Joshua’s crib praying that he would make it, but mostly praying that this little guy would not suffer. Then one day, Joshua turned a corner—truly a miracle—and we finally got to bring Joshua home in August; he has made it through two more open heart surgeries since then.  Today, he is a happy, healthy nine-year old who loves baseball, golf, his family and life.

This scenario would have been entirely different if Joshua had not been screened for CCHD (in his case, before birth).  Working for Mended Little Hearts, a national non-profit that helps families who have children with heart defects, I know too well the devastating consequences of lack of screening for CCHD.  I get emails, and sometimes calls, from parents of babies who died or coded because their heart defect was not caught in time, and it breaks my heart. 

Joshua’s type of heart defect is 100% fatal if not caught—usually within a couple of weeks of life.  About half of the babies with this heart defect are not caught pre-birth, so screening soon after birth becomes vital and life-saving.  There are about 10,000 babies each year born with critical congenital heart defects that, like Joshua’s, can be caught through screening.  The sooner a baby is screened, the more likely the baby will get life-saving care.

Parents are looking to their hospitals and their states to help them.  Pulse oximetry screening, now mandatory in some states, is simple, non-invasive and inexpensive.   (For more information on pulse oximetry screening in states visit www.pulseoxadvocacy.org.  This website was created by Kristine Brite McCormick who lost her baby, Cora, due to lack of screening.)  Most states already conduct newborn screening, and many are working to include pulse oximetry screening in their standard newborn screening panel.   In New Jersey, such a law saved at least one life within 24-hours of implementation.  

Virginia is now getting started, with an Executive Order in place that creates a panel to develop an implementation plan for Virginia hospitals.  Not all Virginia facilities currently provide pulse oximetry screening, and it is our hope that they will move quickly to make sure that they do so that babies’ lives are saved.

Posted on behalf of Government Relations Director Christopher Ramos

In an earlier post I introduced two of our 2013 policy priorities:

>> Advocating for statewide policy that requires each birthing facility in Virginia to perform a pulse oximetry screening on every newborn in its care prior to discharge

>> Exploring opportunities to direct additional fiscal resources toward the funding of 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) equipment for Emergency Medical Services (EMS).

 I want to take a moment to focus on the second initiative: 12-lead ECGs.

Earlier this year, AHA staff took a hard look at the STEMI mortality rate in Virginia.  What we saw was disparity.  Some areas seemed to have a low mortality rate; others had a mortality rate which was noticeably – significantly – higher.

This variance can be due to many factors, so it motivated us to dig a little deeper.  What we learned confirmed one of our suspicions: in many of the communities with the highest STEMI mortality rates, first responders lack 12-lead ECGs.

Since our discovery, we’ve coordinated with Mission: Lifeline staff and Virginia Heart Attack Coalition volunteers; we’ve met with EMS; and we’ve met with public officials. And we’ve also shared this need with you: if you attended one of our Virginia Heart Walks this year, you probably met me or another volunteer at our You’re the Cure tent, where we brought attention to this issue. We need to build as much support and momentum as we can in order to make this happen. 

The next step is to ask the General Assembly to help us get this equipment into the communities which need it. Formally, that process will start in early January, when the 2013 session begins, and we’ll need your involvement then to help communicate the need to your legislators. But it’s never too soon to let your elected officials know that this issue is important to you. Please take a moment to do so today.

 Best regards this holiday season.

Chris

Post on behalf of Christopher Ramos:

As a Director of Government Relations for the American Heart Association, my responsibility is straightforward:  “…support and advocate for public policies that will help improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20 percent while reducing deaths by coronary heart disease and stroke by 20 percent by 2020.”

As the Director of Government Relations in Virginia, my focus – in coordination with our volunteers and staff – is to determine how we make that happen here…to determine what policies we need to promote in Virginia in order to achieve our 2020 goals.  With American Heart Association science and guidance, we evaluate the political climate each year to determine where best to focus our efforts.

Many times those efforts are about early detection and treatment, for example, Pulse Oximetry screening of newborns.  We know some children aren’t being screened; we know this simple, inexpensive, noninvasive screening helps to identify those children; and we know testing every baby to catch those undetected cases is going to save lives.  [Here on our blog, you can get a clear idea of the impact by reading about how Critical Congenital Heart Disease impacted one of your fellow advocates. I hope you’ll take a moment to read this inspiring story.] 

Another policy priority this year around early detection and treatment focuses on efforts to fund 12-lead Electrocardiogram (ECG) equipment for Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Putting a 12-lead ECG in an EMS truck allows a first responder to identify severe heart attacks (STEMIs) almost right away, transport to the right facility, and have a cardiac team on stand-by. This, in turn, significantly reduces the time to treatment for the heart attack victim.

Unfortunately, not every EMS system in Virginia has access to 12-lead equipment – some do, some don’t.  And in many instances, the communities with the highest STEMI mortality rates are the very communities where the equipment is not in place. Now that AHA has identified the need for 12-lead ECGs, we’re going to bring attention to it, and we’re going work to make sure this need is addressed.

In both cases, faster identification of a serious heart condition equals faster treatment, and faster treatment saves lives. One condition exists at birth; the other can be the result of many different factors. But the goal is the same: reduce heart-related deaths in Virginia.

I know we can count on your to help achieve these goals.  Please be on the lookout for upcoming alerts, and be sure to Tell Your Story if you have lived through a related experience. 

Kim Landreth, North Carolina

All I ever wanted was to be a mother. Then six months into my pregnancy I found out that my baby girl would be born with a heart defect.

We were devastated and so afraid of what was to come for our little girl. Olivia was born in Jan. 2008 with a heart defect that later caused her to have a heart transplant before she was one year old.

Because of people like the American Heart Association who participate in constant research it made it possible for Olivia to be here with us today and for me to be the mother I have always wanted to be. Olivia went through a heart transplant that some years ago would have been impossible to overcome but with the research that has been done by the American Heart Association and advancing medical procedures the heart transplant was a success and Olivia is now 4 years old.

Olivia is nothing short of a miracle and we are so blessed. More research needs to be done to make these transplants more successful and prolong the life expectancy of these transplanted hearts.

As a mother of a very strong and loving heart survivor I am grateful for the American Heart Association programs. It means so much.  Olivia thanks you from the bottom of her heart!

When Joshua Lemacks was born via c-section, his parents knew ahead of time that there was a problem.  He was immediately whisked away to the hospital next door for his first of three open-heart surgeries.  His mother, Jodi says, ”The first time I saw Joshua the next day, it was hard to see the baby beneath the tubes and wires hooked up to him.  It felt surreal, like I couldn’t possibly be looking at my own baby.”  Joshua survived the first surgery and struggled against infections and other complications for almost two months after that.  Then one day, he turned a corner—truly a miracle—and his family finally got to bring Joshua home.  He has made it through two more open heart surgeries since then, and today is a happy, healthy nine-year old who loves baseball, golf, his family and life.

This scenario would have been entirely different if Joshua had not been screened (in his case, before birth) for Critical Congenital Heart Defects (CCHD). Joshua’s type of heart defect is 100% fatal if not caught—usually within a couple of weeks of life.  About half of the babies with his heart defect are not diagnosed pre-birth, so screening soon after birth becomes vital and life-saving. 

There are about 10,000 babies each year born with CCHD that, like Joshua’s, can be diagnosed through screening.  Many babies have died or coded because their heart defect was not caught in time.   The sooner a baby is screened, the more likely the baby will get life-saving care.

Pulse oximetry screening, now mandatory in some states, is simple, non-invasive and inexpensive.  Most states already conduct newborn screening, and are working to include pulse oximetry screening in their standard newborn screening panel as a mandate.  This law in New Jersey saved at least one life within 24-hours of implementation.  

Virginia’s Governor has already issued an Executive Order creating a work group to develop a plan for implementation.   Not all facilities provide pulse oximetry screening, and it is our hope that they will move quickly to make sure that they do.