May is designated as Stroke Month in an effort to bring awareness of the warning signs and risk factors of a stroke.
A stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is disrupted due to a blocked or ruptured blood vessel.
Dr. Sally Bomar is a family practice physician at SSM Health St. Francis Hospital in Maryville. Dr. Bomar said most of the risk factors of a stroke are controllable.
“The number one risk factor for having a stroke is elevated blood pressure, so controlling your blood pressure is probably the most important thing you can do. Then the things that go on and help control your blood pressure also are going to reduce your risk,” Bomar said. “Smoking is a huge risk, any tobacco use, actually. By itself, it’s a risk factor because it causes nasal constriction of the arteries which limits blood flow, but it also dramatically increases your blood pressure.”
Bomar said a healthy lifestyle goes a long way to help reduce the risk of having a stroke.
“Controlling your weight, eating healthy, controlling cholesterol and… they’ll help also control your blood pressure so it all kind of works together,” Bomar said. “So a healthy diet with lean meat and fruits and vegetables and limiting the processed carbohydrates, exercising regularly and not smoking are the things that are most controllable. Taking blood pressure medications regularly if the lifestyle things do not control your blood pressure and being aware so you can act if needed.”
The warning signs of a stroke can be remembered through the acronym FAST.
Face – Facial droop, uneven smile
Arm – Arm numbness, arm weakness
Speech – Slurred speech, difficult to understand
Time – Time to call 911 and get to the hospital immediately
For more information about Stroke Month, click here.
According to Dr. Bomar, St. Francis Hospital in Maryville is working to become a stroke center. Bomar said there are different levels of stroke centers throughout the state and they’re working to get their certification.
“Part of that is making sure that we have CAT scans and done and the report read within a short time, laboratory studies done within a short time and then administering the tPA if needed in a short time so that we can break up the clot if need be,” Bomar said. “We’ve done an excellent job in reducing our numbers and how quickly we’ve turned things over.”
Dr. Bomar said they submitted their application and a survey will take place June 19th as part of the certification process.