FAST stroke campaign making a difference

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman says a national campaign highlighting the signs of a stroke and the need to act quickly is already making a difference.

“Each year in New Zealand about 9,000 people have a stroke. Early identification and treatment is crucial to reduce the likelihood of brain damage and lasting harm,” says Dr Coleman.

“The FAST campaign focuses on the key signs of a stroke and emphasises the swift action needed if you’re concerned.

“FAST stands for Face, Arm, Speech and Time - sudden changes to a person’s face such as drooping, loss of arm strength or slurred speech could all be warnings that they’re suffering from a stroke.

“Since the national campaign started in June, St John Ambulance service has noted a lift in the number of callouts for stroke or suspected stroke.

“Normally St John will get around 130 calls to 111 in a week that are coded as stroke, but that’s risen by around 40 a week since the start of June. I’ve also been told that frontline stroke experts are seeing people at ED who say they’d seen the FAST messaging and it prompted them to act.

“I look forward to the full assessment of the FAST programme in due course. There’s no doubt that early identification and treatment is crucial to reduce the likelihood of brain damage and lasting harm.”

The campaign follows a survey by the Stroke Foundation which found around one-third of Kiwis were unable to recognise any signs of stroke.

The FAST campaign ran across a range of media from June to early August. It follows a successful pilot in Waikato. The campaign has been developed by the Ministry of Health, Health Promotion Agency and Stroke Foundation.