Sunday, June 24, 2018

Drowning Can Be Fast and Silent


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You may wonder what this post about drowning is doing on a Stroke blog. Well, it is summer and a lot of people go near the water for relief from the heat. Even stroke survivors and caregivers. We even have swimming pools at many of our camps for the survivors and caregivers to enjoy. I would also suggest that you take what you learn from this article to your next stroke group meeting for training your caregivers in CPR. It may very well save a loved one's life. 

Go here for more on CPR: CPR-is-key-to-survival
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Drowning can be fast and silent, but it can be prevented, too


By AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION NEWS

Just back from a run with her husband, Laura Metro faced a parent’s worst nightmare: Her 6-year-old daughter, Maison, ran to her screaming, “I think Clay died! I think Clay died!”

Metro’s 3-year-old son, who was swimming with family friends, was found at the bottom of the pool with his towel. One friend started CPR – or the closest thing he knew based on what he’d seen on TV – on Clay’s blue, lifeless body.

Paramedics arrived and got Clay’s heart beating again. He was taken by helicopter to the hospital and spent two days in a coma before making what Metro calls “nothing short of a miraculous recovery.”


“The doctors said, ‘We don’t know why he’s alive,’” Metro said. “The only thing – the only thing – we can attribute it to is the bystander CPR. … He didn’t see the inside of a hospital for an hour and a half [after almost drowning]. That was really what did it.”



Drowning is the third-leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide, accounting for 7 percent of all injury-related deaths, according to the World Health Organization. The agency estimates there are 360,000 annual drowning deaths worldwide.

The Metros’ good fortune is anecdotal evidence of the findings from a study published in the June 2017 edition of the journal Resuscitation, which found that chances for neurological recovery from a near-drowning increase when the victim receives CPR from a bystander.

“We would advocate for parents knowing CPR, and particularly if they have a pool, they should become familiar and get trained in mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing,” said Dr. Michael Sayre, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. “Whereas hands-only CPR is typically focused on someone who is not in the water and collapses suddenly for other reasons, people underwater die because of lack of oxygen.”

After Clay’s recovery, Metro founded a nonprofit called CPR Party, using the model of at-home shopping parties to encourage people to teach and learn CPR. The lessons aren’t equal to official CPR certification, Metro said, but “they will know what to do, and hopefully, we create a bridge to certification. We just give them that basic knowledge to empower them.”

About one in five people who die from drowning are 14 years old or younger, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And for every child who dies from drowning, another five receive emergency department care for nonfatal injuries, often including brain damage. The numbers are particularly discouraging, experts say, because in many cases, drowning is preventable.

“The biggest thing we try to get through to people is you need to maintain constant, active supervision when people are in the water,” said Adam Katchmarchi, executive director of the National Drowning Prevention Alliance. “Regardless of age and swimming ability, you should never swim alone. You should always swim around someone who’s keeping that vigilant watch over the water, whether that be a parent in a backyard pool or whether you’re swimming in a lifeguarded area.”

On its website, the NDPA stresses what it calls “layers of protection,” including swimmer training, facility safety and parental responsibilities designed to prevent drowning. Drowning can happen quickly and silently, without warning, Katchmarchi said.

“We’re used to the Baywatch drowning, where people see on TV that someone’s going to be waving their arms and screaming for help,” he said.

“An actual drowning victim, when they’re in that 20- to 60-second fight for survival, they’re unable to call for help because all of their energy is being used to keep their head above water. A lot of times they’re bobbing up and down, going under and re-emerging and trying to get air, so it’s really difficult for them to call out for help,” Katchmarchi said.

“It’s really easy to say, ‘Oh, I’m watching my kids,’ but you’re scrolling through Facebook or your Twitter feed. … Even if you’re distracted for just a short period of time, it can happen really quickly and really silently.”

If you have questions or comments about this story, please email editor@heart.org.
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Copyright is owned or held by the American Heart Association,Inc., and all rights are reserved. Permission is granted, at no cost and without need for further request, to link to, quote, excerpt or reprint from these stories in any medium as long as no text is altered and proper attribution is made to American Heart Association and American Heart Association News. See full terms of use.

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Sunday, June 17, 2018

Can You Recognize A Stroke

http://www.unitedstrokealliance.org/















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Sunday, June 10, 2018

How Can We Afford So Many Camps

http://www.unitedstrokealliance.org/
www.strokecamp.org












Show Me The Booster Box

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Some of you may be wondering how we can afford to host thirty-three camps every year all over the United States. A page out of our 2018 Spring Newsletter tells the story. Yes, there is a registration fee that is paid by each camper but that does not cover all the costs of our motel style accommodations, catered meals, arts, crafts and pampering materials, and the associated transportation costs of getting all these things to each camp's site. Our camps would not be possible without the following sponsorships, our annual fundraisers, and donations from supportive people like you.  We need all of you to help us help stroke survivors and their caregivers get a fun, relaxing weekend and a chance to feel normal at least once a year. The mission of Retreat & Refresh Stroke Camp is to improve the quality of life for stroke survivors, caregivers, and their families. This is accomplished through our weekend retreats, as well as community stroke education and awareness events for the public.
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THANK YOU DEAR SPONSORS, AND THOSE WHO DONATE. WITHOUT YOUR HELP WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO ENRICH THE LIVES OF OVER A THOUSAND SURVIVOR, CAREGIVER AND VOLUNTEER CAMPERS WHO COME TO US EACH YEAR. 

Sunday, June 3, 2018

Rehab After Stroke


www.strokecamp.org
http://www.unitedstrokealliance.org/













Show Me The Booster Box
If you are a member of a support group, you might want to pass on to your support group leader that we can provide a Booster Box that provides the support group leader a package of resources that will keep participants interested, engaged, and coming back for more, month after month. The comprehensive kit will provide the leader with discussion starters, activities, decorations, readings, and all the supplies you need to execute a meaningful group of 24 participants. Just click on the link under the Booster Box picture for more information.

If you do not belong to a support group but would like to, or would like to visit one to see what it is all about go here to find one in your area: 
Stroke Support Group Finder
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Copyright is owned or held by the American Heart Association, Inc., 
and all rights are reserved. 
Permission is granted, at no cost and without need for further request, 
to link to, quote, excerpt or reprint from these stories in any medium 
as long as no text is altered and proper attribution is made to 
the American Heart Association News.