Strokes can happen to anyone, at any age, and even to young people.
Despite being one of the leading causes of death and long-term disability in the U.S., strokes are largely preventable, treatable and beatable if you can control your risk factors. According to the American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association, every 40 seconds someone in the U.S. has a stroke. Keeping blood pressure in check, living a healthy lifestyle and knowing stroke warning signs may help protect you and your employees.
Here are three key insights from the American Stroke Association’s Together to End Stroke initiative:
1. Control risk factors
Up to 80% of strokes may be preventable, according to the American Stroke Association. You can take action to prevent strokes by managing your risk factors, like high blood pressure, a leading cause and controllable risk factor for stroke and heart disease.
Other risk factors include diabetes and obesity, which can be controlled with healthy lifestyle changes. Eating well, quitting smoking and being physically active are important.
As the boss of a utility contracting company, this may mean empowering employees to:
- Get up and moving throughout the day: A 2022 Harvard study correlated 13-plus hours of sitting with a 44% increase in stroke risk. The same study suggested that even the least strenuous physical activity can mitigate that risk.
- Optimize benefits: Do you have an employee assistance program through your insurance provider? If so, make sure your employees are aware and utilizing those tools. Many insurance-based EAPs provide free or low-cost coaching for mental health, smoking cessation, nutrition, financial stress, and other personal and professional issues.
- Adopt a smoke-free workplace policy and offer to connect employees with smoking-cessation resources: Many U.S. states and county health departments offer free smoking-cessation programs and resources; make them readily available to your employees.
- Encourage and incentivize healthy living where it’s most effective. Not every company can enact a comprehensive wellness program, especially when you are a smaller operation. In those cases, focus on day-to-day relationships with your employees and encourage them in their endeavors. You may not be able to pay for a company-wide gym membership, but you may be able to reimburse entry fees for completed fitness competitions, like marathons and obstacle course races. Or give public kudos and acknowledge the hard work that occurs off the clock.
- Model good behavior: The most basic and powerful thing you can do is be a positive role model. Having a company cookout? Make sure healthy options are available. If the “go, go, go” work ethic is bearing down on employees, model the power of taking time off to avoid burnout and manage stress.
2. Act FAST
Most adults in the U.S. don’t know the stroke warning signs, nor that stroke is largely treatable if you call 911 as soon as you recognize the symptoms; make sure your service techs do, too. Learn the acronym FAST to help you recognize when someone is having a stroke so you can take life-saving action, and be sure to share with your service techs at a safety meeting, too.
- F: Face Drooping. Does one side of the face droop, or is it numb? Ask the person to smile. Is the person’s smile uneven?
- A: Arm Weakness. Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
- S: Speech. Is speech slurred? Is the person unable to speak or hard to understand? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence, like “The sky is blue.”
- T: Time to Call 911. If you or anyone else shows any of these symptoms, call 911 immediately.
3. Prevent a second stroke
Nearly one in four strokes occur in people who had a previous stroke, sometimes because they don’t know what caused the first, making identifying the cause of the stroke a key step toward future prevention. Treatment depends on the type of stroke someone is having, which can be determined with a series of medical evaluations and tests.
Work with your health care professional to develop a plan that helps you move forward after a first stroke while preventing a second. This plan should include controlling risk factors, like achieving and maintaining healthy blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
“Preventing a second stroke is possible with the right approach,” says Dr. Teresita Casanova, a neurologist and American Stroke Association volunteer expert. “Taking medicines as prescribed, monitoring health numbers and making small, consistent lifestyle changes can make a big difference. Stroke survivors should feel empowered to take control of their health and work with their care team to build a strong prevention plan.”
Find more ways to manage stroke risk at stroke.org.
