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Strokes are serious medical emergencies
PCEC Member Darrel Vaught
speaks to the PCEC on the topic of strokes, also known as “brain attacks,”
and why they are medical emergencies requiring prompt treatment.
Strokes are serious medical emergencies requiring prompt
treatment. This was the message delivered by club member Darrel Vaught at
the Sunday, June 15, meeting of the Pattaya City Expats Club. Darrel, who is
a long time member, suffered a stroke about a year and a half ago. As a
result of his personal experience and that a stroke can happen to anyone, at
anytime, and anywhere, he felt it was important for everyone to be able to
recognize the symptoms of a stroke and the importance of getting prompt
treatment.
First, he pointed out that his presentation would be that of a layperson as
he was not a medical doctor or practitioner. Further that other than his own
personal experience, the information was based on research of reputable
medical websites on the Internet.
Pat Koester, who is also a USA
Embassy Warden, advises the PCEC on the importance of registering with their
embassies including how to contact their next of kin in case of need.
Darrel then described the two types of stroke that can
happen and how they cause damage to brain cells. Further, when brain cells
die the abilities controlled by that area of the brain are lost; these
include speech, movement and memory; how a stroke victim is affected depends
on where the stroke occurs in the brain and how much the brain is damaged.
One is a Hemorrhagic Stroke and is caused when a blood vessel in the brain
bursts, spilling blood into the spaces surrounding brain cells; the other is
called an Ischemic Stroke and is caused when the blood supply to part of the
brain is suddenly interrupted. Hemorrhagic Strokes for example can be caused
by high blood pressure and aneurysms (balloon-like bulges in an artery that
can stretch and burst). Ischemic Strokes are most often caused by blood
clots blocking a blood vessel in the brain. In both cases, there will be
damage to brain cells. Sometimes instead of strokes, they are referred to as
“brain attacks.” Ischemic strokes are the most common and account for 85% of
all strokes. Darrel said he would concentrate his talk on this type of
stroke.
PCEC Master of Ceremonies
updates everyone on upcoming events such as Amari Resort’s upcoming Wine
Experience and the PCEC Club Dinner.
Darrel emphasized during his talk that time is of the
essence for treatment as doctors have only a limited time to safely give
clot-busting drugs (3 hours for all and up to 4 and half hours for those
whose condition qualifies) and from 6 to 8 hours for treatments for extract
clots. The clot busting drugs, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), dissolves
the clot and improves blood flow to the part of the brain being deprived
which can help to reverse the damage done. The sooner such drugs can be
given will improve the chances of not having a lasting disability as a
result of the stroke.
Darrel described the primary risk factors for ischemic stroke (the usual
suspects for causing other diseases) - high blood pressure, high
cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, obesity, and family history. Also, anyone
having previously had a mini-stroke (Transient Ischemic Attack) is at a very
high risk. Darrel then described two other conditions that put a person at
risk for a stroke, Atrial Fibrillation (AF) and Carotid Artery Disease. AF
is an irregular heartbeat which can cause blood clots to form in the heart
that break away to travel up to the brain. Carotid Artery Disease is a
buildup of plaque in the neck artery that supplies blood to the brain.
During the PCEC meeting’s Open
Forum, Chris Harmon takes the opportunity to announce the upcoming three
one-act plays being presented by the Pattaya Players.
The most important message that Darrel wanted to get
across was how to recognize stroke symptoms. He presented a chart showing
the acronym F A S T that he said everyone should become familiar with - “F”
for face (is it drooping?); “A” for arm (is it weak?); “S” for speech (is it
slurred?); and last “T” which is not a symptom, but a reminder that time is
of the essence in getting treatment. Although the F A S T acronym helps in
remembering the most common symptoms, Darrel noted that the following are
also symptoms if there is a “sudden” onset: Numbness or weakness in the leg;
Confusion or trouble understanding; Trouble seeing in one or both eyes;
Trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination; and Severe
headache with no known cause. If one or more of these symptoms are present,
medical attention should be sought right away. Darrel then went over the
diagnostic procedures that your doctors will most likely use to confirm that
there was a stroke and the type. He mentioned that one or more of the
procedures may be performed.
Darrel concluded his presentation by sharing his own experience with a
stroke. His symptoms were he could not raise his left arm, his speech was
slurred, and the left side of his mouth was drooping. He called Bangkok
Hospital Pattaya (BHP) for an ambulance and was being evaluated and treated
in BHP’s emergency room within about 50 minutes of having the stroke. A CT
scan confirmed that he had a blood clot on the right side of the brain (the
side of the brain affected controls the opposite side of the body). He
received the clot busting drug and spent the night in the ICU where he also
received an EKG that showed he had an irregular heartbeat (Atrial
Fibrillation). He mentioned that several doctors and others visited him in
ICU and later in a regular room to evaluate his progress. In his case, he
said that he had recovered the use of his arm, lost the drooping face, and
had normal speech not too long after the clot busting drug was administered.
He said he still has some lasting effects; numbness in the left side of his
mouth and in his left little and ring finger which most likely will be with
him forever.
After Darrel answered several questions, Master of Ceremonies Richard
Silverberg brought everyone up to date on upcoming events and called on Roy
Albiston to conduct the always informative Open Forum where questions are
asked and answered about Expat living in Thailand, especially Pattaya.
For more information on the PCEC’s many activities, visit their website at
www.pcecclub.org.
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Lions Club of Pratamnak-Pattaya
donates 80,000 baht in scholarships
Manas Kongwattana (left),
principal of Pattaya School No. 7, receives 20 scholarships, amounting to 20,000
baht, for the selected students from years 1-6 of the school.
Urasin Khantaraphan
The Lions Club of Pratamnak-Pattaya donated 80,000 in scholarships to
students at four Pattaya-area schools.
Club President Navin Khakhai handed out the 1,000-baht stipends to the 80
students from Nernplabwan School and Pattaya schools No. 6, 7 and 9 at School
No. 7 June 12.
The donation, organized in tandem with Lions Magazine and International District
310 rewarded students who had good grades and were from poor families.
Navin encouraged the students to keep improving themselves, be good children,
grateful and obedient to parents and teachers.
Though the scholarships were not much, he said, the students should be proud of
themselves for being selected.
PILC hosts beach fun day at Pinnacle Jomtien Resort
In the evening we moved to Pinnacle’s beachside
restaurant for the BBQ Buffet.
Nancy Aly-Hegazy
Special Events Chair PILC
PILC hosted another of its special events on Saturday 14th June. This time it
was at the lovely Pinnacle Resort in Jomtien and was a fun-filled day brimming
with pool and beach games, prizes, good food, music and even some dancing.
Thank you to all our members and friends who joined us. Though we were nervous
about the cloudy conditions and rain we had that morning, the day turned out to
be perfect.
We had approximately 85 people attend on the day and it was great to see so many
different nationalities, and families from all over Pattaya and beyond join in
the event.
Our daytime activities centered around our young families and were held at
Pinnacle’s kids’ pool. We were extremely fortunate to have our special friend
Margaret Grainger from Hand to Hand Foundation help us out with the kids’
activities. Hand to Hand brought with them their special helpers from ‘Play
Around the World’ who ensured that the children were entertained throughout the
day with pool games, crafts and activities, lawn games and even a sandcastle
competition on the beach.
The fun continued well into the evening when we then moved to Pinnacle’s
beachside restaurant for the BBQ Buffet. Pinnacle hosted an amazing array of
food; there were steaks, sausages, salads, curries, desserts and much more.
Party games are a big hit with all
the children.
After the feast, PILC drew raffle prizes and sold wine
bottles with the profits once again going towards PILC’s charities. A special
thank you to Jan Bremauer, guest relation manager at Pinnacle Resort, for his
kind donation to the raffle. Jan managed to secure us 2 vouchers to Pinnacle’s
Resorts in Jomtien and Bangkok for the raffle. Congratulations to all our
winners.
Margaret Grainger from Hand to
Hand Foundation helped with the kids’ activities.
Overall, feedback from the event was very positive, with both
adults and children having a great time and enjoying the event. I was asked by
several children when we would do it again.
A very big thank you to Hand to Hand and Play Around the World for their
generosity, hard work, creativity and for helping to ensure the day was a great
success. A big thanks to Raegan for her wonderful organisation skills, Wayne for
the photography and music, PILC Committee for sourcing the raffle prizes and of
course to the staff at Pinnacle Jomtien Resort and Spa for hosting the event at
their wonderful hotel and restaurant. We look forward to working with you again.
PILC looks forward to seeing you all at our next event, and don’t forget that
this year the PILC Christmas Bazaar will be held at the Holiday Inn on Sunday
23rd November 2014. See you soon!
We even had a sandcastle
competition on the beach.
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Hilton Pattaya plants coral to
commemorate 2014 World Environment Day
Hilton Pattaya’s general manager, Rudolf Troestler, together with over 20 Hilton
Pattaya executives, joined a coral reef planting project to commemorate the 2014
World Environment Day June 5. The event took place at Toei-Ngam Beach in
Sattahip, illustrating the hotel’s environmental concern as well as
demonstrating commitment to live sustainably and take action by caring for the
environment.
“Growing coral is one of many ways we take responsibility for our local area and
the planet. We started the first planting project in order to rehabilitate the
marine ecosystem in Sattahip by planting young coral at the bottom of the ocean
and we are delighted to take this kind of activity to support live coral, and a
wide variety of plant and animal life,” said Rudolf Troestler.
World Environment Day is the United Nations’ principal vehicle for encouraging
worldwide awareness and action for the environment. Over the years it has grown
to be a broad, global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated by
stakeholders in over 100 countries. It also serves as the ‘people’s day’ for
doing something positive for the environment, galvanizing individual actions
into a collective power that generates an exponential positive impact on the
planet.
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