Stroke Quality Measures
Patient and Community Education
Highland Hospital actively participates in stroke education programs by doing the following:
- Offering community lectures through the American Stroke Assocation (ASA)
- Providing education to Emergency Medical Service (EMS) personnel at conferences and dinners
- Speaking at the Alesi Health Fair
According to the latest statistics from the American Stroke Association:
- Each year about 700,000 people have a new or recurrent stroke
- Stroke killed approximately 158,000 people in 2005
- Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the U.S.
- Millions of brain cells die each minute stroke is untreated
Symptoms of a stroke include the following:
- Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body
- Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
- Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
- Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, or loss of balance or coordination
- Sudden severe headache with no known cause
According to the American Stroke Association's Guidelines for the Early Management of Adults with Ischemic Stroke - 2007 communities with stroke education programs have significantly higher use of life-saving (blood clot dissolving) medication, when compared to communities where such programs are not available. The higher use of blood-clot dissolving medication implies that stroke survivors are getting medical attention in a more timely manner, which can affect the outcome.
