• Elderly homemaker Madhumita Dey who suffered a stroke after waking up in the morning can now climb stairs again
• Rizwanur Kareem Akhand, a 55-year-old businessman who had developed slurred speech and failed to get up from bed one morning, has started managing his business again
The common thing in the above two cases is that both patients got immediate medical attention, within minutes of them showing symptoms of a stroke.
City doctors on Saturday stressed the importance of rushing a person to hospital if they showed even the slightest symptom of a stroke for better chances of recovery.
“We ask the family members of a person showing symptoms to follow the BE FAST Model — B stands for balance issues, E for eyesight, F for facial distortion, A for weakness in the arms and legs, S for speech disturbance and T for time to move,” said Kaushik Sundar, clinical lead for comprehensive stroke care, Narayana Health.
He said every minute of delay can cause the death of millions of neurons inside the brain and increase the person’s brain’s age by several years.
Piyush Kanti Dey, an elderly Kolkatan who found his wife Madhumita, 68, with multiple disorientations one morning earlier this year, wasted no time and contacted their daughter.
“My wife’s treatment started immediately. She was released from hospital in the next five days. Now, she has been able to return to her normal life again,” said Piyush, a resident of Behala.
Walid Akhand, a resident of Santoshpur, saw his uncle Rizwanur Kareem Akhand, 55, unable to get up from the bed and with a slurred speech.
“My uncle could not speak properly. I immediately realised that he was losing control over his senses and needed urgent medical help,” Walid said.
Rizwanur was driven to a hospital without delay.
Runu Bhattacharjee Bagchi, an elderly resident of Santoshpur, was alerted to her 80-year-old elder sister Bibu Banerjee’s symptoms of immobility over the phone.
“I arranged to shift her to a hospital and rushed there myself. We could take her on time. She is a lot better now,” Bhattacharjee Bagchi said on Saturday.
Dey, Walid and Bhattacharjee Bagchi were among the Kolkatans who were felicitated by NH Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences, Kolkata.
The idea was to felicitate the relatives of stroke patients, nurses and medical staff who have brought the
patient to the medical set up fast enough, in time for them to recover.
“We are calling these people the stroke heroes, who actually counted every minute and brought the patients on time and ensured their treatment in the hospital on priority,” Sundar said.
The hospital on Saturday announced the launch of a stroke clinic to provide priority treatment to stroke patients at the hospital.
Warning signs
Some common symptoms that need immediate medical attention, according to doctors
• Inability to move
• Slurred speech
• Dizziness and vomiting
• Facial distortion
• Disbalanced movement