Residents Urged to Know Risks, Symptoms, Treatment of Stroke
BATON ROUGE, La. – Ochsner Baton Rouge is encouraging people to talk to doctors and loved ones about the signs, symptoms and treatment for stroke as part of National Stroke Awareness Month in May.
Stroke is the number five cause of death and a leading cause of disability in the United States. The American Heart Association says that every 40 seconds, someone in the United States has a stroke, and about every 4 minutes, someone dies of one. That impacts a total of about 795,000 people each year.
Ochsner Baton Rouge nurse practitioner LaToya Cameron specializes in neurology. She recommends patients talk to their primary care providers about their own risk factors of stroke and how to build a plan for decreasing those risks.
Cameron says healthy lifestyles can significantly lower the risk of stroke, including regular exercise and a healthy diet.
“You want to avoid foods high in saturated fats. You want healthy fats, you want vegetables. You want to avoid fried food. You want to eat fruit. You want to eat lean meats. These things are valuable,” Cameron says.
She also points out that strokes can occur at almost any age, depending on individual health and medical conditions. “Stroke can occur at any age. I’ve seen it occur in patients who were in infancy and who were 100 years old. So, it doesn’t discriminate,” Cameron says.
For more information on Stroke Awareness Month and tips on avoiding stroke, visit American Heart Association online.
To schedule an appointment with an Ochsner Baton Rouge physician, call (225) 761-5200, or visit Ochsner.org/doctors to schedule online. Online appointments are also available through the MyOchsner patient portal.
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