A state that needs help...

Being born in Arkansas, I am always drawn to news in that state. A recent story combines my home state with some serious news: saving stroke patients in a state with a high stroke death rate.

Doctor says telemedicine helps save stroke patients:

Arkansas is ranked No. 1 for stroke deaths in the country.

"A physicians shortage is a big part of it," said Northwest Medical Center Emergency Medical Director Dr. Katherine Barton. "Unfortunately, some parts of our state are very poor. There's just not always enough access to physicians like people need. There's not education about strokes that we need to have out there. And there's a lot of cardiovascular disease in our state because of a lot of obesity and smoking."

When it comes to strokes, time is everything.

"The more time that passes, the more damage that's done, the more brain cells that die and the more of your function you cannot get back," said Barton.

(Map from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)