Push for better stroke awareness in Adelaide

Stroke Foundation is urging the incoming South Australian government to help increase awareness of the signs of stroke to help more people in Adelaide, and right across the state, get the emergency treatment a stroke requires.

The call is backed by Stepney resident and mother of three Saran Chamberlain, who experienced a stroke at home in 2013 at the age of 38.

Saran said she was incredibly grateful her husband David recognised her stroke symptoms and called triple zero (000) straight away.

“As a result, I arrived at hospital within 15 minutes and was able to receive the time-critical treatment I needed to stop the stroke’s attack on my brain,” she said.

Stroke Foundation has spoken to key politicians from all sides of the political spectrum ahead of the election to emphasize the importance of investing in ways to prevent and treat stroke. That includes funding a four-year community education campaign to reiterate the F.A.S.T message:

The F.A.S.T way to recognise stroke is:

Face – Check their face. Has their mouth drooped?

Arms – Can they lift both arms?

Speech – Is their speech slurred? Do they understand you?

Time – time is critical. If you see any of these signs call triple zero (000) straight away.

Stroke Foundation South Australia State Manager, Luke Hays, said a recent survey found that 41 per cent of South Australians would not recognise a sign of stroke if it was happening to them or a loved one.

“Our message is simple – think F.A.S.T. We want to hammer home how quickly people need to act,” he said.

“We know community education works. If we are supported by Government to deliver the F.A.S.T message consistently over the next four years, more South Australians will recognise when they need to seek that urgent, life-saving treatment for stroke.”

The incoming South Australian Government is also being asked to invest in an initiative which would give stroke clinicians consistent access to the most up-to-date treatment guidelines when helping their patients.

Living Evidence is a ground-breaking new approach to finding, evaluating and using research to deliver better health care and improve outcomes for patients. It uses state-of-the-art digital technologies to enable clinical guidelines to be continually updated with the latest research without compromising rigorous scientific review, giving patients and clinicians immediate certainty about how new research should inform care.

Hundreds of new research studies are published each day, but it currently takes 5 – 7 years for guidelines to change. This delays the implementation of new discoveries that can improve outcomes for patients. It can prolong the use of old treatments or approaches to care that don’t benefit patients or worse, cause harm.

The Australian Living Evidence initiative will create a “single source of truth” where clinicians and patients can access current, reliable and trustworthy information to help them make decisions together.

Stroke Foundation Chief Executive Officer Sharon McGowan said the benefits for survivors of stroke are immense.

“Exciting developments in stroke treatment are on the horizon and we want to ensure every Australian can benefit from these discoveries in a timely way,” Ms McGowan said.

“Having a system which reduces the time from “research bench to clinical action” means every South Australian impacted by stroke is given the best chance to recover well after stroke.”

Stroke Foundation is asking the incoming Government to invest $600,000 over four years to help build a digital technology platform to make the guidelines accessible for South Australian clinicians and patients.

Having access to more treatment options and information is something survivor of stroke Saran Chamberlain would welcome.

Saran smiling. She is in front of a white background and she is wearing a pink jacket.

Image: Survivor of stroke Saran Chamberlain from Stepney backs the Stroke Foundation’s push for a FAST community education campaign

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