View across the Outer Harbour of Stornoway

Thursday 8 April 2010

Recognising a stroke

Susie is recovering at an incredible pace for someone who suffered a massive stroke, all because Sherry saw Susie stumble - - that is the key that isn't mentioned below - - and then she asked Susie 3 questions. So simple - - these 3 questions literally saved Susie's life. Susie failed all three so 999 / 112 was called. Even though she had normal blood pressure readings and did not appear to be having a stroke, as she could converse to some extent with the Paramedics. They took her to the hospital right away.

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify.
Unfortunately, lack of public awareness can spell disaster.
The stroke victim may suffer brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

* Ask the individual to SMILE.
* Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
* Ask the person to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)
(eg. "It is sunny out today")

If he or she has trouble with ANY of these tasks, call 999 / 112 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher. After discovering that a group of non-medical volunteers could identify facial weakness, arm weakness and speech problems, researchers urged the general public to learn the three questions. They presented their conclusions at the American Stroke Association's annual meeting last February. Widespread use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis and treatment of the stroke and prevent brain damage.

Thursday 8 April

Reasonably bright day today, with a little wind and some sunny intervals.

Here in Stornoway, the Golf Club is applying for a license to serve alcohol on Sundays. The Club says this is separate from the vexed issue of playing golf on the Sabbath. Actually, it runs a nice parallel to the current controversy over opening the Stornoway Sports Centre on Sundays. At the moment, it is closed - but you can drink yourself legless in any of the town's hostelries. So, we can look forward to having a fantastic booze-up at the Nineteenth Hole at the Golf Club, without having to tire ourselves out chopping our way around the 18 holes first.

I am already heartily fed up with the General Election campaign, even if we still have 4 weeks to go. Here in Stornoway, the election posters went up within hours of the election being called. The party faithful did not always check carefully enough where they stuck their posters - as shown in this article on Hebrides News.



A few days ago, I highlighted (on Facebook) the fact that our friends at AOHell were planning to ditch another piece of their service: Bebo. They acquired that social networking site two years ago, but it is failing badly in the States. So, AOL is going to shut something down again (provided they are not able to find a buyer - which is pretty likely in the face of competition from Facebook and the like).