The data is striking but everyone needs to be reminded: Every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. has a stroke, and someone dies of stroke every three to four minutes, according to public health officials. When you choose Baptist Health for stroke care, multidisciplinary teams are dedicated to a rapid diagnosis, innovative treatment and a comprehensive recovery.
{TRANSCRIPT}: Technology in the world of stroke has changed significantly within the past decade. We have very sophisticated technologies using artificial intelligence to not only detect patients who are having strokes, but we have very sophisticated platforms like the one behind me that are able to actually treat all kinds of stroke, including retrieving clots from patients' brains who are suffering a stroke, or treating things such as very complex brain aneurysms.

One out four women will have a stroke at some point in their life, one out of five people in general, so it's very common. And basically, when someone is having a stroke, the first thing that you would notice is that there's a difficulty to do things. So there can be difficulty to speak, difficulty to move an arm or a leg, to see, to swallow, so it's a loss of function.

So the new standard of care for how we treat patients with stroke at Baptist Health is providing individualized care for each specific patient. So whether that's thrombolytic therapy, or mechanical thrombectomy to actually retrieve a clot, we treat every patient individually, and assess them and decide what's the best care for that patient, and deliver what we know based on the best evidence is going to give them the best chance at a full recovery.

The FAST acronym stand, the F is for face, A is for arm or leg, S is for speech, and T is for time. So if anyone has any difficulties with face movement, or arm or leg weakness, or their speech sounds slurred, or they can't understand what you're saying, then the T is for time because you really have to call 911 and get to the closest stroke capable center, because there are some therapies that can be administered to prevent damage from the stroke.

We have a fantastic stroke team. We actually have a unique role where we have stroke clinicians who are specially trained nurses available 24/7 at our hospital. They meet the patients who are having strokes at the door, and they facilitate their entire care from arrival, 'til eventually where they get to where they're supposed to be and receive their treatment they're supposed to receive. Furthermore, we have what I would say is some of the best technology available to both diagnose and treat stroke patients, from artificial intelligence technology that's deployed in all of our hospitals, to the most sophisticated angiography suite to able to treat both patients who need aneurysm repairs or other types of stroke treatments.

The stroke program at Baptist Health Miami Neuroscience Institute really has all the resources that a stroke patient might need in order to diagnose the stroke, understand what is causing the stroke, so what is the mechanism behind it so that we can implement the best preventive strategy so that the risk of having another stroke is the lowest possible. Also, we have all the the tools to be able to treat that stroke so that we can try to prevent brain damage happening in the first place from that event. And then lastly, we have all the resources as far as rehabilitation goes, so that the chances for recovery are maximized, and then can happen as soon as possible.

Seeking care immediately is of vital importance if you are having a stroke or if a friend or a loved one is having a stroke. At our hospital, we are in close communication with our EMS colleagues, and they are often calling us from the field when they identify patients who they think are having a stroke. They can provide us that patient's information, and we're often able to meet them at the hospital and shave up to half an hour off the time that that patient would need to receive thrombolytic therapy or that they would need to receive some sort of a thrombectomy or clot retrieval procedure from the brain. So if you think you're having a stroke or if a loved one or a family member's having a stroke, don't just drive them to the hospital, you definitely call 911 because that starts the process of helping them get the best treatment possible.