A capacity crowd gathered in the lobby at Miller’s Assisted Living Wednesday afternoon to attend the monthly FOR YOUR HEALTH series led by Deborah Berger BSN, RN. May is Stroke Awareness Month and Berger made the topic challenging by having a True/False quiz at the end of her presentation.
Berger began her presentation by explaining that stroke is the fifth leading cause of death and people of ANY age can experience a stroke, including infants and children. Risks factors in having a stroke are: High Blood pressure, age, gender, ethnicity, smoking, drinking, high cholesterol, diabetes, a sedentary lifestyle and A-fib.
Berger also shared an easy way to remember stroke symptoms should you think you or a loved one is having a stroke. Think of the word FAST. F is for face. Ask the person to smile and if one side of the face is droopy, it could be a stroke. A is for arm. Ask the person to hold both arms out in front of them at shoulder level. If you are experiencing a stroke you will be unable to one of your arms up, it will drop to your side. S is for speech. A person having a stroke often cannot form words, will sound garbled, or cannot talk at all. And, T is for time. If you think you or a loved one is experiencing a stroke CALL 911. The quicker you get to the ER the better it will be. Berger handed out cards to everyone in attendance that said: Act FAST, call 911.
Following the informational portion of Berger’s presentation she gave everyone paddles that had TRUE written on one side and FALSE written on the other. She reviewed the information with the audience by asking questions about stroke awareness and the audience held their paddle with the correct answer showing. Everyone in attendance received a gift out of Berger’s prize bag.
Berger will return to Miller’s Assisted Living on June 13 at 2:30 p.m. and her topic will be SHINGLES.
Photo Caption: Residents and guests show their answer paddles while Deborah Berger of Saint Joseph Health System quizzes them about stroke awareness.
