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Every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. has a stroke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A stroke happens when a blood vessel in the brain is blocked or bursts. Knowing the health risks and signs can help you prevent, identify, and reduce the effects of a stroke.

What are some of the key symptoms of a stroke?

Symptoms of a stroke appear abruptly and without warning. A stroke may cause sudden weakness or numbness, trouble with vision or speaking, confusion, or a severe headache. If you or someone you know has these symptoms, even if they go away quickly, you should call 911 immediately.

What are the BE FAST stroke warning signs?

BE FAST is a simple way to remember the main symptoms and things you should do during a stroke.

• Balance - Is the person suddenly having trouble with balance or coordination?
• Eyes - Is the person experiencing suddenly blurred or double vision or a sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes?
• Face drooping - Does one side of the face droop or is it numb? Ask the person to smile.
• Arm weakness - Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
• Speech - Is speech slurred, they are unable to speak, or hard to understand? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence like, "The sky is blue." Is the sentence repeated correctly?
• Time - If the person shows any of these symptoms, even if the symptoms go away, call 911 and get them to the hospital immediately.

What are some healthy lifestyle changes that may lower your risk of a stroke?

Strokes are the fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S. — but they’re often preventable. To reduce your risk of a stroke, you can:

• Work with your doctor to manage any health problems you may have, such as high blood pressure or diabetes.
• Don’t smoke. If you need help quitting, talk with your doctor.
• Limit alcohol to 2 drinks a day.
• Get active. Aim for 30 minutes per day — walking is a good choice.
• Eat healthy foods, such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, lean meat, fish, and whole grains.

Learn more about strokes and how Kaiser Permanente is among the nation’s high performers in stroke treatment and care.

Mental and emotional wellness are important parts of your total health. With rates of reported mental conditions on the rise, it’s important to take care of your mind as well as your body. That means living a healthy lifestyle, paying attention to how you feel, and doing simple things to improve your well-being. If you or a loved one needs help, start with these tips below:

Speak up if you’re struggling. Be honest with the people in your life about how you’re feeling. They can’t help unless they know you need their support.

Talk to your doctor. They can connect you with support and help you access care for depression, anxiety, addiction and recovery, and more — without a referral.

Seek treatment. Help is available and effective. If you don’t know where to start, talk to your care team and let them connect you to the support you need.

Mental health and wellness resources:

• Mental health content center with information about accessing care and more
• Addiction care content center with information about accessing care and more
• Depression, stress, alcohol, drug, and predict teen use assessments for early intervention
• Health classes and support groups
• Personalized healthy lifestyle programs
• Wellness coaching by phone for stress and sleep
• Most prescriptions mailed to your door (requires sign-on)
• Self-care apps for meditation, mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy
• Self-care resources to help manage depression, reduce stress, improve sleep, and more
• Find Your Words resilience and community mental health support resources

For mental health care appointments, call 1-833-KP-WITH-U (Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.)

Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center has provided high-quality health care to our members and communities since 1953. We understand that getting and staying healthy means more than just eating fresh fruits and vegetables, working out, and visiting your doctor once a year. In fact, there are economic, social, and environmental factors that play major roles in the quality of your health and the health of your family. That’s why we are working to make communities healthier by addressing these conditions.

One way the Los Angeles Medical Center works to improve the health and well-being of our communities is through a grant program for nonprofit organizations dedicated to providing direct services to others.

In 2019, the Los Angeles Medical Center provided $500,000 in grant funding to 17 nonprofit organizations working tirelessly to positively impact the lives of others in the following areas:

• Access to Health Care
• Mental and Behavioral Health
• Obesity, Overweight or Diabetes Prevention and Education
• HIV/AIDS and STI Education

We’re pleased to spotlight the YWCA Glendale as a featured community partner and recipient of a $25,000 grant award from Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center. The funds support Glendale YWCA’s Girls Empowerment programming, including Camp Rosie, a 2-week summer day camp for 7th-9th grade girls that provides them opportunities to express their potential while building friendships and making connections with female entrepreneurs and role models.

Camp Rosie serves as YWCA Glendale’s primary prevention initiative.  While striving to understand all the risk factors associated with teen dating violence, Camp Rosie aims to support protective factors and healthy relationships.

Camp Rosie addresses risk factors for dating violence through the following activities:

• Leadership development through hands-on exposure to STEM and trades activities
• Opportunities for team-building and friendship-building
• Connecting with community members and leaders working in professions of interest
• Workshops that explore healthy relationship-building and bystander intervention
• Opportunities to hear from women leaders who challenge and defy strict gender roles
• Exploration of stress management, self-love and healthy conflict
• Introduction to available resources for survivors of violence and what they can do to stand up against acts of violence

An important part of Camp Rosie is its use of the Safe Dates curriculum, designed to prevent emotional, physical and sexual abuse in adolescent dating relationships. Safe Dates helps teens recognize the difference between caring, supportive relationships and controlling, manipulative, or abusive dating relationships. The program evaluation yielded the following results:

• Before Camp Rosie, less than 75% of girls could name 3 examples of emotional dating abuse such as yelling, name calling and insults, being possessive or controlling, and shaming or blaming. After attending Camp Rosie, 95% could, a 20% increase.
• Before attending Camp Rosie, less than 60% of girls could name even one thing they could do to protect themselves from sexual assault on a date. After the program, 90% could identify 2 ways to protect themselves such as staying in public places, looking for red flags, and fighting back.
• 100% of attendees learned that it is not OK to engage in physical violence and that no one deserves to be abused.

YWCA Glendale also saw:

• A 29.5% increase in understanding that emotional abuse can be just as serious as physical abuse
• A 39.4% increase in understanding that any forced sexual activity is sexual assault.
• A 29.8% increase in understanding that abuse does not go away over time if you ignore it.

Reflecting on all three sessions, YWCA’s Camp Director says that at that age 11-14 girls are often not heard. Participants were relieved to find mentors in staff and visiting instructors. What makes Camp Rosie unique is its commitment to a safe community where the girls can support one other and explore their potential.

Before a tour of the Glendale City Hall, the Camp Director recounts a moment where she said to a skeptical camper from Boyle Heights, “We're taking you to City Hall because it’s important for you to know how decisions are made in your community. When you think about politics, it’s not just about the president; there’s a lot of work that happens at the local level.” By the end of the visit, it was clear that the camper exclaimed, “I’m going to go find the City Hall where I am from!”

To learn more about Camp Rosie, visit https://www.glendaleywca.org/what-were-doing/camprosie/.

Posted: 11/22/2019