MetroHealth Spreads Stroke Awareness with Lincoln-West

MetroHealth Spreads Stroke Awareness with Lincoln-West

On May 6, during the first full week of National Stroke Awareness Month, students from the Lincoln-West School of Science & Healthat MetroHealth instructed their peers about the risk factors and warning signs of stroke.

The Stroke Fair Community Event was the culmination of the "Teaching Students to Teach About Stroke" program, in its fourth year.

Following a pre-test for the 50 9th grade students, the 10th grade student presenters took turns delivering presentations on their assigned BE FAST warning signs and symptoms topic, as well as risk factors. BE FAST is a common acronym designed to instill the warning signs of stroke:

• Balance: Watch for sudden loss of balance.
• Eyes: Check for vision loss or double vision.
• Face: Check to see if one side of the face droops or feels numb.
• Arms: Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms.
• Speech: Is speech slurred or is someone unable to speak? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence.
• Time: Time to call 911.

After the 12 group presentations and a post-test wrapped up, students and their special guests - including parents and community members - wandered through a "gallery walk" of the groups' poster presentations in Rammelkamp Auditorium. At a table next to each poster sat a student and a MetroHealth caregiver providing information and hands-on teaching opportunities in a Stroke Fair atmosphere.

For the first time since Agnieszka Ardelt, MD, PhD, MBA, FAHA, launched it in 2022, the program included the community event she had long envisioned.

"We wanted to do something for the community in terms of cutting across barriers that people have in understanding stroke symptoms," said Dr. Ardelt, Chair of Neurology. "We also wanted to do something to empower students to enable them to help their community."

Dr. Ardelt's initial vision for the program included students going out into the community to teach what they learned. But the ongoing COVID epidemic forced a change of format.

"This is the first year with a bit of a wider community," Dr. Ardelt said. "We're finally achieving that initial goal. We have empowered the students because they're learning and teaching."

Back in February, Dr. Ardelt gave an hour-long presentation to Lincoln-West's two biomedical science classes. Afterward, Education Specialist Kate Perhay spent the next five weeks working with the students on the content for their group presentations.

Alice Liskay, RN, BSN, MPA, with the Center for Health Care Research & Policy, coordinated the poster presentation "gallery walk" and Stroke Fair.

Instead of having every group focus on all the BE FAST signs or risk factors, each group was responsible for one topic this year. The change elevated the students' level of expertise, said Perhay, a former Lincoln-West science teacher.

For example, the groups assigned to "Time" dug deep into specifics of what to say when calling 911, or when trying to convince a reluctant family member with symptoms that they need to go to the hospital.

"We had a lot of engagement from students; they were eager to dive into conversations about how social determinants of health can contribute to risk factors for stroke," Perhay said.

The level of student engagement during her lectures also was higher this year, Dr. Ardelt said.

Along with wanting to know more about the effects of hypertension, smoking and uncontrolled diabetes, the students also were curious about the role illegal drugs and sleep disorders play, she said.

"That was a sure sign that they're being exposed to these issues in their environment, on social media and in the media," she said. "They felt comfortable asking these questions of a healthcare professional, even if they were a little bit tangential to the topic. That's very important."

Conducting the program entirely at Main Campus this year has introduced a professional vibe that was missing at Lincoln-West's West 30th Street campus.

"Instead of this being just a school program, it's essentially a professional program," Perhay said. "The kids are literally working side by side with MetroHealth employees, which was the whole vision of the school from the beginning."

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