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Go Red event calls attention to stroke risk, especially for women

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story erroneously reported the circumstances in which Phoenix Baptist Hospital nurse Alma Yap sees women ignoring and misattributing symptoms of health problems. Yap said women tend to ignore symptoms of stroke and heart disease more often than men and often attribute heart attack symptoms like shortness of breath and chest pressure to stress.

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As medical director for Phoenix Baptist Hospital’s emergency department, Brian Hess sees people every day who’ve suffered strokes. Often, he said, those patients, as well as those around them, had no idea how to identify a stroke.

“If you’re not looking out for possible stroke symptoms, you’re probably going to miss it, and that goes for providers as well as patients,” he said.

With that in mind, the hospital’s staff dedicated Friday to educating people about how to spot stroke symptoms early. Red balloons graced the main lobby for the Go Red event, and nurses gave free blood pressure tests and handed out pamphlets on heart disease.

It was part of National Wear Red Day, sponsored by the American Heart Association, which encourages people don their red clothing to call attention to heart disease.

Alma Yap, a nurse at the hospital, said in her experience, women tend to ignore symptoms of stroke and heart disease more often than men. She said women often attribute heart attack symptoms like shortness of breath and chest pressure to stress.

“They’ll take something for acid reflux or maybe an aspirin, and they won’t even bother to call 911,” Yap said.

According to the American Heart Association, 55,000 more women than men have strokes each year. The study noted that this may be because women have a higher life expectancy than men, and strokes happen more often in the oldest age groups.

Hess said because of this, women should be especially concerned with possible stroke symptoms.

“A lot of people just don’t realize that these symptoms can be signs of something really dangerous,” he said

Arlene Copley, a former cardiac nurse at the hospital and volunteer at the event, said stroke is one of many risks associated with diabetes.

“Heart attack, kidney problems, sight and circulation problems – diabetes is the big cause in many illnesses,” she said.

Copley said the key to controlling diabetes is a healthy lifestyle, mainly diet and exercise.

Hess said this lifestyle can also help people avoid strokes.

“The more we get the word out, the more we raise awareness about controlling diabetes and high blood pressure and recognizing stroke symptoms early, the better off the population will be,” he said.

Joy Dilley, director of stroke coordination at the hospital, said the free tests helped some visitors identify irregularities in their blood pressure and heart rate they’d never noticed.

“The idea is that if we stress some of the risk factors of heart disease, they’ll be more aware of it,” she said. “And with all the people stopping by, I think we’ve done that.”