posted 01-15-2005 08:51 AM         

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three
simple questions:
Ask the individual to smile.
Ask him or her to raise both arms.
Ask the person to speak a simple sentence.

If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately
and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

After discovering that a group of non-medical volunteers could identify
facial weakness, arm weakness and speech problems, researchers urged the
general public to learn the three questions. They presented their
conclusions at the American Stroke Association's annual meeting last
February. Widespread use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis
and treatment of the stroke and prevent brain damage.

Heart Attack Self Help
A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10
people, you can bet that at least one life will be saved. Read this . It
could save your life.

Let's say it's 6:15 p.m. and you're driving home (alone, of course)
after an unusually hard day on the job. You're really tired, upset and
frustrated. Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest
that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw. You are
only about five miles from the hospital nearest your home.
Unfortunately, you don't know if you'll be able to make it that far. You
have been trained in CPR, but the guy that taught the course did not
tell you how to perform it on yourself.

HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE:

Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, without
help, the person whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to
feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness.
However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and
very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the
cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep
inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two
seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to
be beating normally again.

Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the
heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart
also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can
get to a hospital.

Tell as many people as possible about this. It could save their lives.