News Anchor Stroke Leads to Stroke Awareness

In Early September, a viral video showed an Oklahoma news anchor showing signs of a medical episode on air.  Julie Chin, a news anchor at KJRN in Tusla, Oklahoma, suffered what she says was the start of a stroke in the middle of a newscast. This unfortunate event lead to experts wanting to share warning signs and symptoms of a stroke everyone should be aware of.

 B. J. Hicks, MD, a vascular neurologist for OhioHealth, spoke with NBC 4 about stroke warning signs. “Potential warning signs include impaired vision numbness in your face arms or legs and slurred speech," says Dr.  Hicks.

Hicks said strokes are the number one cause of disability in the United States, with more than 800,000 people suffering from strokes each year. Strokes can happen to anyone, no matter how healthy, at any time. This is why it is important to understand the signs and symptoms.

Dr. Hicks mentions women are more likely to suffer from a stroke. “We like to believe that you know, women are healthier. They have less of the bad habits and that may be true, but they live longer and strokes tend to increase the longer people live.”

However, this can occur to anyone. Dr. Hicks says he has patients that are athletes who live healthy lifestyles, like triathletes, marathon runners, and retired professional athletes.

Time is of the essence if someone is experiencing signs of a stroke. Dr. Hicks says every 15-minute interval, risk for permanent disability increases.

If you think you or someone you know is having signs of a stroke, remember BE FAST:

B- Loss of BALANCE or coordination.

E- Trouble seeing out of one or both EYES.

F- FACIAL weakness.

A- ARM weakness.

S- SPEECH difficulty.

T- TIME to call 911.

To learn more about stroke care at OhioHealth, click here.