It wasn’t for three hours, after resting, that Gillam decided to call for help. Her phone wasn’t charged and was plugged into her car, and once it was, she had to wait 15 minutes to call her husband after she accidentally locked herself out.
When her husband arrived and spoke with his mother, a retired nurse who went to the house too, Gillam heard her say she’d had a stroke.
“I really didn’t know what was happening until she said that,” Gillam said. “I turned 50 in August and I’m young and fairly healthy. I don’t have any major problems. This is just something I never thought would happen to me.”
Medical research says the number of strokes in younger people is increasing. Erin Jordan, nurse practitioner in interventional neurology, said she had four people under the age of 55 in her clinic Wednesday.
Ohio recently saw the largest percentage increase in the prevalence of strokes in the nation, increasing 20.9% when comparing 2020–21 to 2011–13, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Stroke is the second-leading cause of death in Clark County and the third in Champaign County.
That’s why Mercy Health – Springfield has recently emphasized stroke care.
Chase Collins, director of neurosciences, said the goal is to be able to intervene in the case of a stroke much faster, no longer having to fly patients out to Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center or other facilities.
“We’re able to intervene faster and they’re able to get that same level of treatment here in Springfield that they would get at a bigger tertiary center,” Collins said.
Mercy Health began a partnership with the Springfield Fire Rescue Division in 2023 to reduce the amount of time it takes a person having a stroke to get life-saving treatment, with several trainings focusing on the best practices to identify a stroke, where to take a patient for the best care and information to share with the receiving hospital.
Mercy Health has also introduced new stroke detection technology, and has a unique rehabilitation floor that features scenes from downtown Springfield, as well as realistic replications of everyday tasks like grocery shopping, going up a step into a house, making a deposit or using an ATM and getting in and out of a car.
Gillam received TNK, a drug that can dissolve a clot in a vessel in the brain that is causing a stroke, 46 minutes after her arrival to the hospital. That was close to four hours from experiencing symptoms, and providers do not administer the drug after four-and-a-half hours.
“Three minutes in, I was back to normal,” Gillam said. “My paralysis was gone. I was able to speak. My face wasn’t drooping anymore.”
The hospital is consistently trying to reduce the amount of time between a patient’s arrival to administering medication, with a goal of less than 60 minutes, Molly Karch, stroke coordinator, said.
Gillam had no pre-existing conditions and said her great-grandfather had a stroke around 80 years old. He had lasting effects, but Gillam said she was “back to my old self” in three months, though she experienced depression, which Michelle Caeser, interventional neurology nurse on her care team, said is normal.
Her team doesn’t know what caused her stroke, but has systematically eliminated several causes, Dr. Jody Short, vascular and interventional neurologist, said. This is the practice after a person has a stroke, an effort to mitigate the risk of reoccurrence.
“Take an aspirin a day or something like that,” Short said of what patients should do if the cause of their stroke is unknown. “I know that sounds kind of small, but yeah, if you rule everything else out, sometimes these things are just freak occurrences.”
To recognize a stroke, people can use the BEFAST test (Balance, Eyes, Face, Arms, Speech, Time). People should look for changes to their balance and coordination, their vision, a drooping effect on their face, arms or limbs feeling weak, or changes to their speech. If those symptoms are present, they should call 911 quickly, Collins said.
Symptoms like balance issues should be sudden onset for stroke consideration, Ellen Hardin, stroke coordinator, said.
Mercy Health has a stroke assessment tool available online at mercy.com/SpringfieldStrokeQuiz, which allows people to follow up with the hospital if requested.
Gillam said anyone experiencing symptoms that could be a stroke should not worry about being a bother, and should realize they don’t have to leave the area for good care.
She had a lot of support from her family, including her husband and two sons, 19 and 17.
May is American Stroke Month. Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability nationwide.
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