The stroke support group of Northwest Alabama Reading Aides meets twice a month for stroke survivors and caregivers.

Stroke awareness and prevention is a global health concern. That’s why Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital in Florence is partnering with the Northwest Alabama Reading Aides stroke support group to spread the message that strokes can affect anyone, at any age.

Not only do strokes devastate the lives of the stroke survivors, but they also affect the entire family, explains a recent press release on the program. Depending on the disability, the entire family dynamics can change.

Northwest Alabama Reading Aides is a local nonprofit United Way agency that functions as part of ProLiteracy and serves Franklin, Lauderdale and Colbert counties. The organization provides one-on-one tutoring for adults in the community that are illiterate or functionally illiterate. NARA also works with stroke survivors whose reading abilities have been compromised due to a stroke and hosts stroke support group meetings twice each month.

“Through our awareness program we visit schools, churches, hospitals and other community groups to talk about the signs and symptoms of a stroke, what you can do to reduce your risk of having a stroke and what to do if someone is having a stroke,” explains information provided by NARA and ECM.

FAST Track is a memorable acronym ECM is promoting to quickly identify a potential stroke.

F – Face: Does one side of the face droop? You can check this by asking the person to smile.

A – Arm: Is one arm week or numb? Ask the person to raise their arms. Does one arm drift down?

S – Speech: Is speech slurred? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence, listening for it being repeated correctly and listening for slurred speech.

T – Time: If the person shows any of these signs, immediately call 9-1-1.

At ECM, the Stroke Team has been trained to immediately respond to a patient exhibiting signs and symptoms of a stroke, and an on staff, full-time neurohospitalist has the expertise to work with stroke patients, creating an individualized care plan to best assist with their planned recovery.

That recovery, of course, might include re-learning to read and speak, as it did for stroke survivor Doug Smith. That’s where NARA comes in.

“About six years ago, my mother noticed an ad in the newspaper for Northwest Alabama Reading Aides,” Smith said. “As well as physical and speech therapy, I began attending classes at NARA to relearn reading and speak better. Between the Stroke Support Group and NARA, in addition to reading and speaking, I have learned comprehension and calmness.”

Sue Gordon is a NARA spokesperson but also someone who has been impacted in a personal way by the support group.

“As well as being spokesperson for the stroke support group, I was a caregiver for ten years for my husband after his stroke,” Gordon said. “I know there are a lot of things that will never be the same, but you just have to learn to live with them. It really helps to have someone to talk to. In this group, we are few in numbers, but we all have an understanding of the problems we are having, and we try to find solutions for them. I think these survivors have made excellent, excellent progress.  I hope we can continue with this group and help others, too.”

For more information on NARA’s stroke support group and reading tutoring, contact Jim Green at 256-766-5709 or litnara@aol.com.