Latest News

The Foundation is sad to announce the passing of someone that was close to us from a cause that was all too familiar. Diane Manarino unexpectedly suffered a major hemorrhagic stroke last week which ultimately caused her passing on June 30th, 2016. Diane was merely 59 years of age at the time of her passing and is survived by her daughters, Natalie and Nicole Manarino, and by her loving siblings: brothers Tom Dowdalls and Jim Dowdalls, and her sister, Katy Dowdalls. A memorial fund has been established in her name. To find out more information on Diane and how you can help the family in these troubling times, visit the  https://rthfoundation.org/diane-manarino-fund/ page.

Today is the World Stroke Awareness Day, and we jumped on it a bit early with a large Seminar yesterday in Downey delivered by superstar neurologist Dr. Chui. We educated and screened around 200 people as well. Doing our best to reduce stroke in the community! To all our friends: If any day today is the day to get the FAST tool memorized as it is the easiest way of recognizing a stroke and saving a stroke sufferer’s life, as 80% of strokes are preventable, and most of them are survivable if treatment is delivered on time. Knowing FAST can expedite emergency services so clot-busting drugs and tools can be delivered to the sufferer.

FAST:

Face: Does one side of the face droop, is the face uneven?

Arm: Can the person lift both arms, can they walk and use both legs?

Speech: Is the person’s speech slurred, are the words unintelligible?

Time: Yes to any of the above symptoms? Call 911, every minute counts with stroke

Knowing fast, along with eating a more balanced diet coupled with regular exercise, has worked in tandem to reduce stroke as the number 4 killer to the number 5 killer in the U.S. But unfortunately, stroke remains the number 2 cause of death worldwide. Share this post, talk to your friends and family, spread knowledge about FAST and help to reduce the prevalence of stroke.

Register today and hurry! Only 20 seats available at this highly informative and beneficial event. This event will take place Thursday, September 24, 2015 at the Verdugo Hills Hospital in Verdugo Hills, CA. Hosting the meeting will be renowned Neurologist, Nerses Sanossian, MD, who will inform attendees on the nature of stroke and stroke prevention tactics. Lunch will be provided, courtesy of Verdugo Hills Hospital, so enroll to today, you don’t want to miss this event!

Plain old snoring can get a little annoying, especially for someone listening to it. But when a snorer repeatedly stops breathing for brief moments, it can lead to cardiovascular problems and potentially be life-threatening. It’s a condition known as sleep apnea, in which the person may experience pauses in breathing five to 30 times per hour or more during sleep. These episodes wake the sleeper as he or she gasps for air. It prevents restful sleep and is associated with high blood pressure, arrhythmia, stroke and heart failure. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in America, and stroke is the No. 4 cause and a leading cause of disability. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for both. “The evidence is very strong for the relationship between sleep apnea and hypertension and cardiovascular disease generally, so people really need to know that,” said Donna Arnett, Ph.D., chair and professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the incoming president of the American Heart Association. A Common Problem One in five adults suffers from at least mild sleep apnea, and it afflicts more men than women, Dr. Arnett said. The most common type is obstructive sleep apnea in which weight on the upper chest and neck contributes to blocking the flow of air. (Another type, called central sleep apnea, is far less prevalent.) Obstructive sleep apnea is associated with obesity, which is also a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Besides obesity contributing to sleep apnea, sleep deprivation caused by sleep apnea can, in an ongoing unhealthy cycle, lead to further obesity, Dr. Arnett explained. Listen to Those Snoring Complaints Often a roommate or sleeping partner of someone with sleep apnea notices it. “It’s really hard to detect if you live alone, unless you go through a sleep study,” Dr. Arnett said. People with sleep apnea may be more tired during the day, she said, and therefore prone to accidents or falling asleep. Dr. Arnett told of her own family’s experience with sleep apnea. She accompanied her 73-year-old mother, Lela Arnett, on a trip to Germany and heard her make loud snorts during the night. It got so noisy that Donna Arnett ended up sleeping in the hotel room’s bathroom with the door closed. It turns out her mother had sleep apnea and severe hypertension. Her mother knew she sometimes awoke when she took big breaths, but she didn’t realize the severity of what was happening. Getting Proper Treatment Through treatment known as continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, her mother’s blood pressure stabilized. The CPAP device involves wearing a mask while sleeping. It keeps air pressure in the breathing passages so they don’t close down. Some patients have bad reactions to the masks, Dr. Arnett said, but their design has evolved significantly, making it easier to find a suitable one. In a sleep study, doctor’s count pauses in breathing to determine whether the patient has mild sleep apnea, characterized by five to 15 episodes per hour; moderate sleep apnea, defined by 15 to 30 per hour; or severe sleep apnea, meaning more than 30 each hour.

It’s certainly possible to have simple, loud snoring without sleep apnea. But with regular snoring, the person continues to inhale and exhale. ~AHA

This exciting event will be held October 27, 2015. We are asking anyone in the community to come join our stroke support group for the day and attend our pot luck. The best Halloween costume will win a special prize! Call Donna at 949 305 8450 to attend! Hurry, reservations are limited!

This week, the RTH Stroke Foundation was featured in the Downey Patriot regarding our upcoming seminar in Downey on the 28th of October. This exciting event will be led by renowned Neurologist Dr. Helena Chui from 9:30am to 11:00am. Free screenings will be offered. See the full article below and follow the link to register for this fully free seminar today!

https://rthfoundation.org/single-ev…/seminar-stroke-dementia/

Last week the Foundation went live with its new website. The website now features a responsive template that will optimize itself for the device that is accessing it. Previously, our website would not adapt to different devices and the fonts and information were rendered too small for mobile and tablet users. As part of our effort to continue serving the public and our community, we have implemented these upgrades with hopes to better disseminate information on stroke awareness and prevention. While the upgrade is complete, we are still updating the various pages of our site and fixing errors that occurred during the transition. Most of these problems should be cleared by next month. If you are having trouble accessing a page, registering for an event, or finding information, please call us at (888) 794 9466. Thank you.

Our 3rd Annual Strikes Against Stroke Fundraiser, “Night At The Races,” was a huge success, thanks to the charitable contributions of our generous, amazing donors. The funds gathered during this event will help us significantly in the fight against stroke and the amount of turnout and support for our cause was profound. The night started off with cocktails and horderves, and after everyone had been situated the horse races commenced. After several exciting races, Guy Navarro delivered a heartfelt speech and presented a gift to a support group member of the foundation. Then it was dinner with our special celebrity guest of ‘Storage Wars’ Dan Dotson, who took to the stage and delivered a live auction that helped our Foundation significantly.

The stroke community will feel the ripples of this event. We are humbled by the vast amount of support for our mission and now we will act on our promise by going into the community to deliver life-saving information on stroke, in hopes that we can further reduce it as a top killer in our society.

Below are the pictures from the event.

We thank everyone that attended and helped us in our mission to strike out stroke.

Dr. Nerses Sanossian is Assistant Professor of Neurology and Associate Director of the Neurocritical Care/Stroke Section at the University of Southern California. His research interests are in prehospital stroke therapies, vascular cognitive impairment, lipids/lipoproteins and stroke prevention in underserved populations. He was born in Beirut, Lebanon and grew up in Southern California. He is a graduate of UC San Diego, and obtained his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. He completed residency in Neurology at Albert Einstein in the Bronx, and returned to Los Angeles for fellowship in Vascular Neurology at the UCLA Stroke Center. His is research in lipids and stroke has been funded by the American Heart Association and the Zumberge foundation. Dr. Sanossian serves as an investigator in clinical trials of stroke care and has published over 100 papers and abstracts. He serves as a spokesperson and grant reviewer for the American Heart Association, and as director of fellowship training in Vascular Neurology at USC. Dr. Sanossian was recently awarded the Keck School of Medicine excellence in teaching award.

Read more about Dr. Sanossian.

If you are in the presence of someone who is exhibiting symptoms of stroke, use the B.U.S.Y. method to do a layperson’s diagnosis.

B = Body. Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?

U = Uneven. Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?

S = Speech. Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence, such as, “Most grass is green.” Does the speech sound slurred or strange?

Y = Yes?. If you observe any of these signs, it’s time to call 9-1-1 — immediately. Every second counts in dealing with Stroke.