Doctors, patients need to learn to recognize a stroke

By George L. Richards III
Scripps Howard Foundation WireWASHINGTON - Doctors are often poorly trained and lack the skills needed to identify a stroke, a medical group says.Strokes are the third-leading cause of death in the nation and the leading cause of long-term disability, according to the American Stroke Association, but they are often misdiagnosed. A stroke is a blood clot that cuts circulation and can cause brain damage.

According to the group, individuals are not the only ones who need to learn more.

Dr. Mark J. Alberts, professor of neurology and director of the stroke program at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said one of the main purposes of legislation, the STOP Stroke Act, is to promote education for doctors.

“The brain is a very complex organ,” he said, “and a lot of physicians and health care people shy away from the brain. They don’t want to learn the anatomy. They don’t want to learn how the brains work, so they don’t get adequately trained.”

The National ambassador for Power to End Stroke, Yolanda King, asked, “While we maybe living better, are we living stronger?”

Her mother, Coretta Scott King, died in January from complications of cancer and a stroke she suffered last year.

“Stroke can happen at any time and at any age. It is not just an old person’s disease,” King said.

May is stroke awareness month, and over the past two days, two briefings have been held on Capitol Hill to acknowledge, inform and promote the continued research about strokes and education and people at risk.

The National Stroke Association, the American Heart Association, and the American Stroke Association united to promote the STOP Stroke Act. This bill would help ensure that strokes are more widely recognized by the public and treated more effectively by professionals. The association urged Congress to pass the legislation this year.

The Congressional Black Caucus, represented by Rep. Melvin L. Watt, D-N.C., and the American Stroke Association, kicked off a new campaign, Power to End Stroke. The campaign is targeting African Americans ages 30 to 64. African Americans are at high risk for stroke.

“Go share the power. Take control and share the word,” Watt said.

The first step for individuals is to know the symptoms, the risk factors and how to control them. Symptoms include numbness and difficulty talking. Risk factors include high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity.

Both groups said it is vital to increase the number of certified stroke centers. They estimated there are about 400 certified stroke centers in the country’s 5,000 hospitals. To become certified, key personal must complete training requirements every year.

During both briefings, former stroke victims and relatives talked about how strokes have affected their lives.

Several said they were either forced to wait for medical attention because they were wrongly diagnosed or their symptoms could not be detected due to inadequate training of a physician.

“I sat there for half an hour waiting for someone to even talk to me about what was happening in my brain,” said Karl E. Guerra, a stroke survivor from Annapolis, Md.

He said that waiting cost him more than time. The delayed diagnosis meant the stroke became more severe, sending him to rehabilitation for three years. His insurance didn’t cover the long treatment. If the stroke had been caught earlier, he said he might have been finished with rehabilitation in six months, something his insurance would have covered.

“I have lost my home and all my savings,” he said. “I had to start from zero at the age of 56. … I ask you through your efforts in Congress to help us.”

For more information about strokes and how to recognize the symptoms, go to:
http://www.stroke.org or http://www.strokeassociation.org