Thirty-eight individuals and organizations in New Jersey were recently honored at the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association 2018 New Jersey American Heartsavers and Stroke Heroes Awards for their life-saving efforts. The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association’s American Heartsavers and Stroke Heroes Awards is held annually to commend individuals, organizations and schools throughout the Garden State for taking extraordinary steps to strengthen the American Heart Association Chain of Survival or for rescue efforts that saved a life of someone experiencing a cardiac or stroke emergency.
The Chain of Survival is only as strong as its weakest link. The American Heart Association Chain of Survival is a critical five-step process that can mean the difference between life and death for someone experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, heart attack or stroke, as well as other medical emergencies such as choking and drowning. The five critical steps or “links” in the Chain of Survival include:
Link # 1: Early Access (know the warning signs of sudden cardiac arrest, heart attack and stroke and call 9-1-1 immediately)
Link # 2: Early Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)
Link # 3: Early Defibrillation
Link # 4: Early Advanced Care
Link # 5: Integrated Post-Cardiac Arrest Care
Nearly 350,000 people suffer cardiac arrest outside of a hospital every year. Given immediately, CPR doubles or triples survival rates and executing the Chain of Survival can save thousands of lives annually. Additionally, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds, while someone dies from a stroke every 4 minutes. Time is crucial for stroke treatment, the faster the Chain of Survival is initiated and symptoms are recognized, the better the outcome.
This year, there were 6 Stroke Heroes including: Jim Boozan (Trenton), Richard Guzman (Garfield), June Rogers (Westfield), Andrea Hicks and David Simon (Hackensack), and Christina Manna (Bayville.)
There were also 32 Heartsavers including Linda Eaton and Erica Grilletto (Maple Shade), Brent Cinberg (Elizabeth), Laura and Jeff McConnell (Great Meadows), David DeMara, Kristen Davis, and Katrina Warren (Egg Harbor Township), Martine Styles, Adnan Shoukat, Catherine DiSalvo, and Robert Keuhlen (Franklin), Lakeland Bank, Dr. Linda Gillam (Morristown), Atlantic Health System (Morristown), The Heart House and Virtua Foundation (Marlton), The All Heart Team at Saint Peter’s Healthcare System (New Brunswick), Michelle, David, and Joseph Kursman (Pennsauken), Mynor Villatoro (Hamilton), Leanne Miccio, John Dohanic, and Jeffrey Angelini from (Hamilton), Erika Betancourt (Hamilton), Maureen Gugliotta (Freehold), Michelle and Anthony Canonica (Williamstown), Toni Guzman (Garfield), Airies Marie Stasic (Fair Lawn), Dr. Rosa Coppolecchia (Whippany), and Christian Ventura (Edison).
The American Heartsaver Recognition Program is an initiative supporting the American Heart Association’s efforts to strengthen the Chain of Survival in our communities as part of their impact goal to improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans while reducing death and disability from heart disease and stroke by 20% by the year 2020.
Anyone can learn CPR and know the signs of a stroke. Visit www.heart.org/handsonlyCPR for a short instructional video on hands-only CPR that could help save a life.
The American Stroke Association suggests remembering the acronym FAST to recall the most common signs of stroke.
F.A.S.T. stands for:
- Face Drooping Does one side of the face droop or is it numb? Ask the person to smile. Is the mouth lopsided or uneven?
- Arm Weakness Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
- Speech Difficulty Is speech slurred, are they unable to speak, or are they hard to understand? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence, like “the sky is blue.” Is the sentence repeated correctly?
- Time to call 911 If the person shows any of these symptoms, even if the symptoms go away, call 9-1-1 and get them to the hospital immediately.
For more information, visit www.strokeassociation.org.
