“Every  forty seconds someone is having a stroke”—Karen Cooper
FAST stands for Face, Arm, Speech and  Time. The word’s letters form an acronym for what a potential stroke sufferer or someone they’re with should be looking  for to save the precious minutes between the time symptoms start and when medical professionals can help.  Karen Cooper, a clinical nurse therapist, shared a story about a stroke victim. “A 44 year old woman has a job and works locally. She has the worse headache, goes home and lies down. What should have she done? She did the worse thing a person can do…she went to bed”.  She added, “If you have a severe headache,  go to the hospital, or call 911.” Strokes are the 4th leading cause  of death. “Guess it’s not good to be an actor or the president”, Karen said, listing Dick Clark, Gerald Ford, Kirk Douglas and Richard Nixon as stroke victims.