Stroke is the fifth-leading cause of death in the United States, but the risk of a first stroke is almost twice as high for blacks than for whites. Blacks are also more likely than whites to die after a stroke.
Yet stroke is a concern for all races and all ages — in 2009, the latest information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 34 percent of people hospitalized for stroke were younger than 65 years old. And sometimes, as with 19-year-old Melanie Bernado (see video below), much younger.
It means so much to Hartford Hospital that stroke will be a focus Saturday night of its annual fundraising gala, the Black & Red, that will raise money and awareness for the Hartford HealthCare Neuroscience Institute. The gala, which starts at 7 p.m. at the Bushnell in Hartford, will include coverage by NBC Connecticut.
Hartford HealthCare, which has one of 101 hospitals nationwide that qualifies as a Comprehensive Stroke Center, hopes people will learn how to identify the most common symptoms of stroke by using the acronym F.A.S.T.
Here’s what it stands for:
[huge_it_gallery id=”28″]
For more information, visit ThinkFASTCT.org.