What I am about to discuss with you is not the most exotic topic, but it affects a significant portion of the population. Stroke, even if you don't personally know someone who has one, you probably still have a vague idea of what they are. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Strokes occur every 40 seconds in the United States and are the fifth leading cause of death in the United States. In this country, a person dies from a stroke every 4 minutes. It also happens to be a major cause of disability in adults. What I would like to teach you today is how we, as individuals and as a nation, more effectively prevent, identify and aid the recovery of those who have suffered from stroke. The question we must address first is: what is a stroke and how can we identify it as non-medical professionals? According to the Mayoclinic, a stroke occurs when blood flow to certain areas of the brain is cut off and it begins to die. These strokes can be hemorrhagic, this type of stroke appears when a blood vessel in the brain leaks or ruptures. This type of stroke is often caused by high blood pressure. There are also ischemic strokes, which account for about 85% of strokes and are mostly preventable. These are caused by fatty deposits blocking the blood supply to the brain, this could start in the brain or another part of the body and move into the brain causing the stroke. Finally there are TIAs or ministerikes, these only last a few minutes but puts a person at greater risk of stroke. In the future. Symptoms of stroke include, but are not limited to, difficulty speaking, paralysis of the face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body, difficulty seeing, headaches, and difficulty walking. To help you identify a stroke, use the quick method. · Face: Ask them to smile, does one side go down? · Arms: When you raise them, do both arms move down? · Speech: Does it sound slurred? · Time: if any of these are a yes, call 911 immediately and administer aspirin to prevent clots. Time is crucial. The longer the person goes untreated, the worse the long-term effects are. Healthcare workers only have a 4.5-hour window to provide a patient with a clot-busting device that could save their life. This might make you think, what if they don't get to the hospital in time? How can the patient recover? The answer is that it doesn't always heal and in some cases it dies. For those who survive a stroke, the road to rehabilitation is long. In all honesty, most stroke patients typically only regain 60-70% of their abilities. The majority of rehabilitation for stroke survivors involves learning to cope with their new disability. In the future rehabilitation looks much more promising. In a study conducted by Johns Hopkins University using mice it was shown that having an enriching environment helps in rehabilitation. It also appears that the entire brain chemistry changes in the period following a stroke. In adulthood our brain has a normal learning capacity, it is not as absorbent as, for example, a child's brain, but we can still learn. Have you ever given an elderly person an iPod or smartphone and told them to try it? How about when you give it to an 8 or 9 year old? What difference do you see? The child will always learn technology first because his brain has more plasticity or learning power. It seems that after a stroke a person has a unique moment in which the plasticity of the brain increases. The problem is that our system.
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