Awareness of stroke facts can save lives

Every group, every person should pay attention to and know basic stroke facts:

Every three minutes, someone dies of a stroke and one stroke occurs every 45 seconds. That is 750,000 strokes per year, according to Dr. Sayona John, a neurologic intensive care physician of Rush University Medical Center. She spoke at a program sponsored by Rush Generations, a free health program for older adults and their caregivers.

"Unfortunately public awareness of stroke is rather poor,” said John. “The knowledge is worse among the elderly, especially among women and minorities. They are also not aware of the treatment options that are available when you have a stroke,” she said.