Stroke duo serves up ‘Clots n’ Coffee’ to promote Stroke Awareness Month
They say laughter is the best medicine. It can also lead to learning.
Cesar Velasco, stroke coordinator, and Alicia Richardson, Stroke Program clinical nurse specialist at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, had a stroke of genius.
To promote National Stroke Awareness Month in May, Richardson dressed as a clot (the most common type of stroke is Ischemic — the blood clot type), and Cesar dressed as the clot-busting agent Alteplase (tPA) wearing a crown made to look like a stent-retriever, a mechanical thrombectomy device used to remove blood clots from the brain.
They visited hospital staff who work with stroke patients and quizzed them on their stroke knowledge while serving coffee and “clots” (chocolate donuts).
“Everybody loved it,” Velasco said. “There were giggles and laughter, and they responded well to the trivia questions we asked.”
One of the questions they asked was to explain the acronym B.E.F.A.S.T., a simple way to remember the signs of a stroke:
B ― balance
E ― eyesight
F ― facial droop
A ― arm weakness
S ― speech
T ― time: Do not wait to see if symptoms go away
Another question dealt with the benchmark goal for administering tPA to those patients who meet the criteria. “It’s 45 minutes or less,” Velasco said. “For every hour a patient goes untreated, their brain ages up to 3.6 years.”
Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability and the fifth-leading cause of death for Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For those who missed their comedic routine, have no fear. “We had such a great response that we’ll continue to look for chances to use humor to teach and re-inforce information,” Velasco said.
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