 | Shanna Parrish-Taylor is the Director of Nursing at Vintage Place Assisted Living. She is a RN with 9 years long term care experience, experience in critical care as well as hospice setting. Shanna is currently working on her master’s degree towards obtaining her ANRP. For more information on Shanna or Vintage Place please call 620-231-4554.
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Senior Living
2013-01-02 15:16:54
What are the symptoms of a stroke?
A-I commend you not only on caring for your grandmother but for caring about her health and wellbeing. Unfortunately, as we age we are not likely to want to give up our old habits easily, which makes giving care very difficult for our loved ones at times.
Stroke is the number one cause of disability among adults and the number three cause of death in the US, striking over 500,000 people every year. One of the biggest problems with stroke is that the symptoms are so easy to miss or ignore. Catching those symptoms is critical in getting early and effective treatment.
Here are a few simple things you can do to help spot a stroke in the earliest stages.
• Look at the face. One of the earliest signs might be drooping around the eyes or mouth. Have your grandma stick out her tongue and see if it goes to one side or the other.
• Arms: Check for weakness and see if she can raise them slowly and evenly.
• Look for speech impairment such as slurring of words or the inability to repeat simple phrases.
If you see any one of these signs, call for help. It is better to be safe and err on the side of caution. When symptoms are spotted within three hours of onset, emergency personnel have many more options in treatment.
Finally, I want to add that I suspect that many things, including the smoking issue, will improve when your family gets her in place at assisted living. The support of many can do a lot to help guide good health choices. Best wishes.
