That’s why the National Stroke Association is asking you to take the Five Faces Pledge right this second. It’s simple—just tell five people you care about exactly what to look for and the importance of acting FAST.

The National Stroke Association is shooting for 2,500 pledges in the next week to help launch National Stroke Awareness Month with more support than ever. Raising awareness now could mean your parent or neighbor gets the critical care they need during a stroke.

Making good on the pledge is easy. They have tools available to share with your network through email, Facebook and Twitter.

Now is our chance to break through the noise and champion this lifesaving cause.

Click here to take the Five Faces Pledge. When you tell five friends about stroke, you’ll be saving lives.

Millions of families are affected by stroke annually, and more than 100,000 people are at risk of dying this year. But if warning signs are recognized and responded to quickly, medical intervention can make for thousands of promising futures.

By teaming up with National Stroke Association, you’ll be aligned with an organization that helps give people the tools to keep our families healthy and happy. There’s no better way to spread the word than through this amazing grassroots movement.

Can we count you in on the Five Faces Pledge?

Family Caregiver and Professional Education and Support Conference

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Northwestern University
Thorne Auditorium, Rubloff Building
375 E Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60611

The purpose of the conference is to educate professionals and families about FTD and PPA and provide information on caring for those diagnosed with FTD and PPA and their families.

Register Now

Agenda
The day will open with an update on FTD and PPA research and treatment by Dr. Diana Kerwin. This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. Geri Hall, advance practice nurse from Banner Alzheimer’s Institute – Phoenix, who has lectured and published widely on behavioral interventions and communication strategies in dementia, specifically FTD and PPA. A panel of clinicians and caregivers will follow the keynote lecture. Afternoon breakout sessions and a closing plenary on stress and caregiving by Dr. Jennifer Medina will conclude the day.

National Aphasia Association’s

25th Anniversary Benefit

June 13, 2012
6:00 to 9:00 pm

HONOREES
Barbara Kessler

Aphasia Center of California

The NAA Founders Group
Martha Taylor Sarno, M.A., M.D. (honorary)
Martin L. Albert, M.D.
Thomas Anderson, M.D.
Alan Bandler, Esq.
Antonia Buonaguro, Ed.D.
Don A. Olson, Ph.D.

Helen Mills Event Space and Theater
137-139 West 26th Street
New York City

Details to Follow.

If you have not had a stroke yourself, but if you know a stroke survivor who might be interested in offering their opinion on returning to work, please feel free to pass this email along to them.

We value your opinions to help find ways for stroke survivors to return to a productive work life.

Thank you for your time

Click on the link below to go directly to the survey. Survey

If you have difficulty connecting to the survey, please contact Dr. Robert Hartke, the Principal Investigator of this study, at rhartke@ric.org.

We call them Faces of Stroke… these stories of real people surviving and thriving and the stories of those who help them through it. Dozens of personal stories were shared last year on our website through our Faces of Stroke campaign, and we’re looking to do even more this year. These stories are enormously powerful tools to educate people about the warning signs and risk factors of stroke. And they’re a great way to prove that no one has to face the aftermath of stroke alone.

With National Stroke Awareness Month fast approaching in May, we want to hear from you! We want to share Faces of Stroke stories far and wide—during May and all year long.

We’re looking to get submissions—text, photos, or videos—in by next Friday, February 24, so please share your story today!

Click here to tell us your Faces of Stroke story. Hearing from survivors, caregivers, family members and healthcare professionals helps us put a human face on stroke to raise awareness and save lives.

We know that for this campaign to be successful we need the courage and inspiration of so many willing to share their stroke story. This is a real opportunity for our community to come together, and we are so grateful for all the stroke champions who make it possible.

With your continued support and participation, we can do more and more every day to prevent stroke. Hope to hear from you soon!

Contact the National Stroke Association to tell your Faces of Stroke story. Hearing from survivors, caregivers, family members and healthcare professionals helps us put a human face on stroke to raise awareness and save lives. Or email: nsa@stroke.org.

Jim Baranski
Chief Executive Officer

National Stroke Association

P.S.: You can already read Faces of Stroke stories from members of the stroke community on the website: Stories

Under current Medicare rules, beneficiaries can receive up to $1,880 per year of speech and physical therapy (combined) and another $1,880 for occupational therapy provided in non-hospital, outpatient settings (in 2012). Beneficiaries who require more services can use an exceptions process to obtain them before the start of the next year. However, this exceptions process is set to expire on February 29, 2012.

Congress extended this deadline for two months (from December 31, 2011 to the end of February 2012) through legislation passed at the eleventh hour just before the end of last year. However, this only ensures that stroke survivors covered by Medicare have access to additional therapy services until February 29. Congress must extend, or reauthorize, the exceptions process in order for beneficiaries to take advantage of it beyond this date. If Congress fails to act and the exceptions process expires, Medicare will only pay for rehabilitation services up to this capped amount—even if additional rehabilitation services are considered medically necessary by a healthcare professional.

You can help ensure that stroke survivors covered by Medicare have access to an adequate level of rehabilitation services. Send a message to your members of Congress urging them to preserve the exceptions process. Take action today! Even if you’ve already contacted your members of Congress about this issue, they need to hear from you again to ensure they take action on this issue by February 29.

Once you’ve sent your messages, follow up with your members of Congress to ensure they take action on your request. The Stroke Advocacy Network can help you identify your members of Congress and find phone numbers for their offices (local or in Washington, D.C.). Following up with a phone call will ensure that your request is not only heard but acted on as well.

Visit their website: www.stroke.org .

In response to the flood of calls, texts, postings and emails we have received from people in the aphasia community in the US and around the world, the National Aphasia Association would like to offer information about this condition to the general public in an effort to correct an error of omission in ABC’s coverage of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ recovery.

First, we would like to express our heartfelt congratulations to Gabby for her recovery so far and offer her, Mark Kelly and their family any ongoing support they might need as they face the challenge of aphasia.
While ABC did an accurate and comprehensive job of explaining aphasia, the program inexplicably never mentioned Gabby’s condition by name. It is aphasia – the inability to read, write, speak or communicate after a stroke or other sudden traumatic brain injury, such as the one Gabby tragically experienced.

Many people with aphasia, their families, friends and caregivers, were very disappointed and frustrated by this omission. Eagerly, they watched that special Monday night edition of 20/20, hoping that finally, a greater awareness and understanding for aphasia would be realized. The general public would finally hear the word aphasia and begin to understand the condition. Unfortunately, the hour-long program never used the word aphasia once, which added to the pain and frustration of the over 1 million people estimated to have aphasia.

It was only during the subsequent Nightline program hours later that night, when Bob Woodruff used the word aphasia when he talked about his struggle with the condition and his understanding and compassion for Gabby’s difficult, but hopeful journey.

We urge ABC and other news media to use the word APHASIA when reporting on Gabby Giffords and other people with the condition. This will help raise awareness and understanding.

Too often, people with aphasia are mistaken for being mentally incapacitated or being under the influence. This is not true. People with aphasia maintain their intellect completely. They have a communication disorder that makes it difficult for them to express themselves and understand language. It is estimated that there are over 200,000 new cases of aphasia every year.

At the National Aphasia Association (a nonprofit organization), we offer free and low-cost support for people with aphasia and their families including:

NAA Hotline (800-922-4622) helps over 4,000 families a year.

www.aphasia.org receives over 12,000 hits per month, helping an estimated 300,000 families a year.

NAA National Registry links to over 440 aphasia US support groups and 210 state representatives.

Emergency Responders Training Program educates first responders how to recognize aphasia and communicate with people who have the condition

Aphasia Friendly Business Program trains businesses and their employees how to interact with customers who have aphasia.

The Aphasia Handbook: A Guide for Stroke and Brain Injury Survivors and Their Families

Aphasia can occur in people of all ages, nationalities, socio-economic backgrounds and equally among men and women. Understanding, patience and a few commonsense strategies will help family, friends, caregivers and the public communicate with people with aphasia:

1) Have the person’s attention before you speak.
2) Minimize or eliminate background noise (TV, radio, other people).
3) Keep your own voice at a normal level.
4) Keep communication simple, but adult.
5) Give them time to speak, resist the urge to finish sentences or
offer words.
6) Communicate with drawings, gestures, writing and facial
expressions.
7) Confirm that you are communicating successfully with “yes” and
“no” questions.
Praise all attempts to speak and downplay any errors.
9) Engage in normal activities whenever possible.
10) Encourage independence, avoid being overprotective.

For more information, media outlets and the public can contact the National Aphasia Association at (800) 922-4622 or (212) 267-2814.

Best wishes to everyone in the aphasia community,

Ellayne S. Ganzfried, M.S., CCC-SLP
ASHA Fellow
Executive Director

Barbara C. Martin
President- Board of Directors

The National Stroke Association is excited to announce their 2011 Raising Awareness in Stroke Excellence (RAISE) Awards winners in the coming days and they wanted to thank everyone who sent in nominations to be considered for the inaugural year. The winners are excited to have their activities highlighted and they are honored to showcase them.

They had a tremendous response to the call for nominations and thank you for sharing these truly amazing efforts being made across the country. It is clear that those of you invested in raising awareness—no matter your reach or resources—are inspirations that deserve support and recognition.

While they are only able to honor a few winners this year, they hope you will join them as they work to establish a devoted and organized community engaged for the long term to raise awareness. You are the reasons why people everywhere are becoming better armed to recognize and respond to stroke.

Watch in the coming days as the 2011 RAISE Awards winners are revealed. The National Stroke Association hopes you share their successes—and your own—with loved ones and others who might be inspired to become a stroke champion

Click Here for survey .

Adrienne Pearson’s information:

(248) 225-7416
pearsoar@mail.uc.edu

When ABC journalist Bob Woodruff was injured while reporting in Iraq in 2006, he suffered severe head injuries that caused him to lose his ability to recall and produce common words – a condition called aphasia. Today, Woodruff has recovered most of his language skills thanks to intensive behavioral therapy – reading and repeating words and sounds.

“The standard of care for patients with aphasia has always been and will always be speech/language therapy, but a new area is opening up that looks at what drugs can be used in combination with therapy to enhance recovery from brain damage and help the brain repair itself,” said Gerry Stefanatos, D.Phil., an associate professor of communication sciences and disorders in the College of Health Professions. “We’re looking at the mechanism of how this combination works – it’s underlying effect on patients with aphasia.”

In research presented at the International Neurological Society this month, Stefanatos found that dextroamphetamine (D-AMPH), a drug commonly used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, improved the processing of speech among those suffering from Broca’s aphasia and the similar Anomic aphasia.

“Improving a patient’s attention and working memory may allow them to better focus and process information during therapy sessions,” said Stefanatos. “Attention is critically important for learning and relearning skills, and could be helpful in forging new neural pathways in the brain.”

The National Aphasia Association estimates some one million people in the United States live with aphasia, which is caused by lesions to the language centers of the brain. These lesions are often due to stroke or brain injury, but can also be the result of a brain tumor or progressive disease such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s. Types of aphasia can range from a patient having difficulty finding and producing a word to a patient having no ability at all to speak or understand language.

Stefanatos’ study looked at the use of D-AMPH in ten aphasia patients. All were also given a placebo for comparison purposes. In each condition, participants were asked to make decisions about different types of speech sounds (vowels, consonant-vowels) and complex tones. Their brain’s electrical response to each was recorded via an electroencephalogram (EEG).

Those who took the D-AMPH had a strong reaction to the sounds – even to consonant-vowel sounds, which are more often difficult for individuals with aphasia to process.

“This tells us that D-AMPH may help the left hemisphere of the brain regain the ability to perform its functions,” said Stefanatos. “Understanding why the drug is having this effect allows us to start to think about how to tailor treatments to make them more effective or explore alternative drugs or drug combinations.”

Stefanatos said he and his team chose to look at this particular drug because in patients with ADHD it has been shown to stimulate the release of dopamine and epinephrine, which help in attention and learning. But he notes that some people aren’t good candidates for this particular drug.

“Now that we have a rudimentary understanding of why the drug may work to enhance the results of therapy, our next step is to look at dose effects and perhaps other drugs with more favorable side effect profiles,” said Stefanatos.

With collaborators from the departments of Radiology and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Stefanatos will next study functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the effects of D-AMPH on cerebral metabolism and where in the brain of individuals with aphasia it has the greatest effect.

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Other authors on this study are Andrew DeMarco at Temple University, Robert Segal at McGill University in Quebec, and Arthur Gershoff, M.D. and Y. Ieuji of the Moss Rehab Stroke and Neurological Diseases Program, part of the Albert Einstein Healthcare Network in Philadelphia. This work was funded by grants from the National Institute of Health and the Pennsylvania Department of Health.