Everybody’s laughing and basking in the glow of a fun day aboard. Suddenly, a passenger becomes confused and reports she can’t see so well. Here face looks different, too — what do you do?

Should someone aboard begins to look and/or act like this, immediately suspect she’s having a stroke that’s preventing blood from circulating properly to and through the brain’s blood vessels. When a blood vessel becomes narrow or closes, the lack of blood flowing to the brain tissue causes death of the tissue; this is called an ischemic stroke.  If the blood vessel ruptures causing a flood of blood, it’s termed a hemorrhagic stroke.

The American Stroke Association says stroke is the fifth leading cause of death and a principal cause of disability in the United States. Therefore, suspecting stroke at the first indication of even one of the symptoms below and calling 911 (or radioing the U.S. Coast Guard when aboard) gives the person a better chance of surviving and recovering.

Balance: Look for a sudden loss of balance or difficulty with coordination.

Eyes: Is there a sudden loss of vision, blurred vision, or abnormal eye movements?

Face: Ask the person to smile and then look for asymmetry or drooping of the face.

Arms: Ask the person to raise their arms to see if there is weakness.

Speech: Ask the person to talk. Look for an inability of the person to understand, or to reply with garbled or nonsensical speech.

Time: Not all the symptoms need be present for someone to be having a stroke, so if any are present, don’t waste time before contacting emergency services.

Don’t discount stroke because the person is young or female. Strokes don’t respect age or gender. And even if the person protests that they feel better, insist on going through with the emergency response. Have the person lie down with the head slightly elevated.

When the emergency responders arrive, share all that you know, including when (and what) symptoms started, any known prior medical history, medications, and allergies. If the person ate or drank alcohol before the symptoms started, and/or took some medication for seasickness, inform them of that as well. Some medications may mimic the signs of a stroke and alcohol may mask symptoms, or vice versa.

More information:  http://www.strokeassociation.org/.

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