Jaimie Counterman of Metro Health University of Michigan Health joins us to discuss the importance of recognizing the symptoms of stroke so you can prevent major damage if a stroke happens to you or someone you love. Be aware of the symptoms of a stroke with FAST: face, arms, speech, time to call 911.

 

Transcript

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00:06 Lynne Jarman-Johnson: Money, I’m home. Welcome in, I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson with Consumers Credit Union. From finance to fitness, that’s what we’re talking about today. And we’re also talking about something that… Well, I’ll tell you what. If it comes on to you or you know someone that this happens to, it’s extremely scary, but it’s also something that is very important to learn about, and that is stroke. What is a stroke? And we have a wonderful partnership with Metro Health, University of Michigan Health, and we like to talk about financial wellness, which is great. Today, we’re going to talk about wellness and truly where some dollars are going through the foundation. Jaimie Counterman is the executive director, she’s joining us today. Thanks so much.

 

00:51 Jaimie Counterman: Thank you for having me. I’m excited to be here and we’re grateful for our partnership.

 

00:54 LJJ: You have a fabulous event coming up. I can’t wait.

 

00:57 JC: We do. It is the biggest event for the Metro Health Foundation for the year, we call it our granddaddy of events and it is our fall gala, our VITALity Gala. And appropriately of course, it is in support of our comprehensive stroke center, this year. So that will be the funding beneficiary for the event. It’s coming up on September 21, sponsorships and tickets still available. I’m just saying.

 

01:21 LJJ: Jaimie, I’m going to tell you a little story. There’s a friend of mine. I was swimming with her in a pool, on a Thursday. And on a Monday, I get a phone call that she had been sitting watching Good Morning America. These are the things that you remember. She had a cup of coffee in her hand. And she said, “I felt my coffee cup, I couldn’t hold it.” And she put the coffee cup over on a table. And then she said, “You know, I’ve got to go to the restroom, got to go the bathroom.” She said to her husband. “Hey, can you help me get up?” And he’s like, “What?” She goes. “No, this is so weird. Just help me get up.” And ha-ha-ha. And he helped her stand up and let go of her and she fell. She was having a stroke. And healthy, young. When I say young, look at… I’m in my 50s, so… Young. But no symptoms pre-advance of it. Strokes are scary things. How do you find out what’s going on, if all of a sudden you have the symptoms?

 

02:32 JC: Well, the most important thing is knowing how to identify the symptoms. Again, a stroke comes on very quickly, can come on very quickly. And I think one of the most important things that any medical professional will tell you is “Don’t ignore it if something is weird or wrong” If you think some things… You know your body better than anybody else. And if you think something is just not right, don’t ignore that because you could find that you’re ignoring something extremely critical. And a stroke is a good example of that because in stroke terminology, time is brain. The longer you wait, the more chances there are of permanent damage, long-term damage. A good example, and I’ll get through the signs, but a good example of why speed is critical in knowing or identifying that something is not right with you, and following up urgently is important is because in the first few minutes of stroke, you lose three to four days of healthy life. Think about that. First few minutes of stroke, that’s three to four days of life. In the first hour, you lose three to four years of healthy life, just with the damage that’s occurring.

 

03:44 JC: It’s so important that if people are having these symptoms, and to know the acronym, so we’ll share that is what we call it as FAST. And so, it’s changes with your face. Are you having a smile drooping? Are you having one side droop? The A is arms. Can you… Does one side, one arm drift downward? Are you having any drifting if you put your arms out. Your speech, are you slurring? Are you having trouble? Is the way you’re speaking strange? And then time, if you observe any of these, call 911 immediately, urgently, because time is brain. The longer you wait, the more damage can be done. And because this comes on so suddenly and because there’s not just one age demographic that people can experience a stroke, it’s important that this is addressed very quickly, and that you can get to a very qualified institution to get cared for as quickly as possible.

 

04:40 LJJ: Well, and I can tell you that my friend, they immediately called 911 and it was an immediate response. She’s doing extremely well.

 

04:50 JC: It’s so good to hear.

 

04:51 LJJ: But the… What you talk about, and where the comprehensive stroke center comes in to play, tell us a little bit about the background and the history and where you are today with the need for more help and assistance.

 

05:08 JC: Absolutely. We have been a primary stroke center since 2005 at Metro Health. And in 2018, we upgraded, quote unquote “upgraded” to a comprehensive stroke center. To the average person on the street, what does that even mean? What that means is that we’re able to provide more complex services for stroke care than we were previously. There’s additional trainings and treatments that we’re have permission to do, that we’re able to complete because of the types of physicians and surgeons that we have on staff, and it also means that because we’re able to treat the most complex of stroke patients, we can do that 365 days a year. We’re not ever not helping people who come and identify with us, to us, with stroke symptoms. What that expands out to from a comprehensive stroke center, is that our increased levels of attention, and increased additional trainings and requirements, mean that our stroke program is really interwoven throughout the entire health system.

 

06:22 JC: So you think about somebody walking in the door to the emergency room, knowing those identifiers, moving them through to your neuro-science team very quickly and being able to get them cared for very quickly, making sure all of those people can identify any of those needs, too, for care along that process. And that it’s all… Everybody is so ingrained in that, that they can do that care quickly. Really fast is kind of the key term here, FAST but skillful. It has to be done quickly, but with intentionality and knowledge.

 

06:56 JC: Having that really specific approach, a very intentional build-out of our stroke program means we’re able to care for more people who have more severe… Present with more severe cases in the stroke and neurosciences. It really is the differences is that we, in studies, comprehensive stroke centers outperform primary stroke centers in many key measures. And so, it’s not something you can see from the outside, it’s something you experience from the inside.

 

07:28 LJJ: When you look… You mentioned that strokes do not discriminate on age. Growing up, I think… Well, the only thing I thought of was, “Well, I have high blood pressure, so I have a chance of getting a stroke.” But that’s truly not the case… I mean that is the case, but it also… Other…

 

07:42 JC: It is the case. So there are things that… Yeah, so there are things that as you age, you are… You do become at an increased risk for stroke. So, there are what we call non-modifiable risk factors. You can’t control your age, you can’t control your race, your gender, your ethnicity, your family history, but there are modifiable risk factors that you can control: blood pressure being one of those, your blood glucose, cholesterol, your weight. So, kind of that general care of health, smoking is a big factor because smoking has an increased risk of clotting. And then alcohol and recreational drug use. All of those things can affect your body and your natural health in a way that can increase your risk of stroke. And 80% of strokes are preventable, because so many of these risk factors are modifiable for people. And I think that is the thing that really blows my mind is that there are so much you can do to help in that stroke prevention that you just wouldn’t consider because stroke doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen to you. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen to somebody you know until it does like many things, many illnesses, especially sudden challenges, but it really can. And there are even certain medical conditions that need to be monitored to make sure that you’re having that risk of stroke identified.

 

09:07 JC: So, any heart disease issues, arterial disease issues, so you think of all of those areas that could affect clotting. Sleep apnea can increase risk of stroke. There are just… Making sure that in that early… In the emergency stage, when you’re having those different experiences, that you’re reaching out and communicating that, but when you have illnesses or risk factors, other health issues, making sure that you’re doing the good care, maintaining your body, and managing through those illnesses in a way that you’re in communication with physicians, so you have an eye to things like stroke prevention.

 

09:46 LJJ: And really knowing what those… The signs are.

 

09:50 JC: Right. Yes, I’ll be frank. As a 37-year-old adult with a five year old child, and I have worked in the health system, and don’t really have any knock-on-wood, any health issues to speak of, stroke would not have occurred to me as something I needed to be worried about, but so, having somebody close to me who is in their mid-50s and experienced a stroke was startling to have that happen. And I am somebody who works in a health system and have a lot of experience with health issues that you see, but you don’t see it until it comes calling close to you. But my family is aware of these stroke signs, of FAST, of what that means and knew to call right away. And this person is actually able to walk out of the hospital and was able to get care very quickly and was able to walk out and is really having no long-term effects of that, at least no immediate effects of that, that they would see, that they expect long term. The true moral of that is, know your body, take care of your health as best you can in conversations with your physician, managing any health issues you have. But if something happens, call. Don’t hesitate, call.

 

11:06 LJJ: Immediately.

 

11:07 JC: Immediately.

 

11:08 LJJ: Tell us a little bit about the foundation, you’re the executive director. Congrats.

 

11:12 JC: Thank you, I’m so excited. I like to share with people that it is my third time at Metro Health and they affectionately refer to me as the boomerang, and that’s over the course of 13 years that I have come back for my third time. And I intend for it to stick this time. I’m very excited. I have been a Metro family my whole life, with a family member who’s worked at Metro since I was a little kid. So, it’s close to my heart to be able to raise money for all of the good work that Metro is doing and the way that we’re trying to help our patients and our community is what gets me up every day.

 

11:53 LJJ: So, tell us when somebody says foundation, you’re thinking “Well, why would a hospital need a foundation?”

 

12:02 JC: Yes.

 

12:02 LJJ: I’ve heard that to somebody, they say, “Why would a hospital need a foundation?”

 

12:06 JC: Because there’s always more to do, there’s always more, there’s always better, there’s always innovation, there’s always something else that you could do to improve. And there’s always the good reason to maintain the culture and the style of work in which you do it. A foundation really is our purpose is to support the mission and vision of the hospital through philanthropy. Philanthropy is a word that I find confusing for people. It can be. And philanthropy really is us coming to our community and saying, “Can you help us financially to do more to serve better and to offer the best in care, the excellence in care that we want to be able to provide here at the health system?” And so, the health system, a hospital has a budget just like any company has a budget, any non-profit has a budget. And our job is to help raise as much as we can so the hospital can do more than we hope to be able to help patients.

 

13:08 LJJ: Well, the comprehensive stroke center is a great example of having premier healthcare. Premier healthcare choices in our community.

 

13:19 JC: Truly, and our partnership with the University of Michigan and what that allows us under Michigan medicine to have that additional support system in terms of our… The specialty physicians and doctors that come, it’s all part of the strategic design of our department growth within the health system. And so, it really is incredible the way that the University of Michigan helps us continue to drive excellence in care in West Michigan, which just means we can help more people more effectively, and really to a level of excellence that is our goal.

 

13:55 LJJ: Well, and our goal is to continue to partner our partnership, Consumers Credit Union is a proud financial wellness partner with Metro Health. We truly do believe in keeping a focus on wellness, and much of that has to with your lifestyle, not only what you eat, and what you do, and how active you are, but how stress is lessened and sometimes stress can come in the realm of financial worry. So, we’re really glad to be a partner with you to help combat that. Thank you, Jaimie, I’m really looking forward to VITALity. Thank you so much.

 

14:34 JC: Yes, thank you. And we’re grateful to be able to share consumers information with our employees, so they’re able to navigate those challenges that finances can bring. I think the biggest thing is that finance can be so scary for people, and consumers and being able to offer educational classes takes the fear out of that adult-ier adult-ing, as I like to call it.

 

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14:54 LJJ: That’s true.

 

14:55 JC: It’s one of those areas that even for myself as a fundraiser and a communicator, it’s just that spot in your life where you’re like, “Well, I save some money and I do some things and I pay my bills on time,” but finance is more than that. And it’s important that there are folks like our friends at consumers who are willing to come in and walk our Metro family through how they can be healthier financially, which can impact their physical wellness, removing stressors around finance. So, we’re very grateful.

 

15:25 LJJ: Well, thank you. Community partnerships is what it’s all about. Money, I’m home, from finance to fitness. Jaimie, thank you so much. I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson with Consumers Credit Union. Aaron, thank you so much, as our producer to make us sound so good. Join us next week. Money, I’m home, from finance to fitness with Consumers Credit Union.

 

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