HHS HealthBeat (July 14, 2010)

Not acting on the warnings

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Calling 9-1-1 for urgent medical care is the best thing you can do when someone has a stroke. But people tend not to do it, as researcher Chris Fussman of the Michigan Department of Community Health saw in a telephone survey of Michigan residents.

The survey tested whether people knew the signs, and would call 9-1-1 if a family member had sudden slurred speech, sudden numbness on one side of the body, or sudden blurred vision.

"Only 14 percent indicated they would call 9-1-1 as their initial response. Even among those individuals with knowledge of these warning signs, only 17.6 percent reported that they would call 9-1-1 for all three stroke warning signs."  (13 seconds)

The study in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: November 21, 2011