Stroke in Arkansas continues to take lives everyday — but thanks to the tremendous team of AR SAVES (Stroke Assitance through Virtual Emergency Support) those numbers continue to shrink. Arkansas is no longer the first in the nation for stroke deaths!! May is National Stroke Awareness month and the Center for Distance Health did not let it go unnoticed. Here’s our May newsletter.

Monday, May 14th thousands of baseball fans gathered at Dickey Stephens Park in North Little Rock to celebrate Strike Out Stroke Night. This 2nd annual event was created to honor AR SAVES stroke survivors and to bring awarenss to the signs of symptons of stroke and that treatment does exist if you act FAST! Stroke surviviors were on the mound to throw out the first pitch and Dr. Curtis Lowery Director of the Center for Distsance health joined them.

Tuesdsay, May 15th kicked off the 3rd annual AR SAVES stroke conference. Health professionals from across Arkansas and surrounding states gathered to learn about the latest in stroke treatments, how to improve getting the tPA to patients quicker and recognising how telemedicine is creating access for Arkansas citizens. With close to 200 attendees — it was the largest conference to date!

Several team members were recognized for their outstanding work during the last year including Pam Adams, RN from Northewest Health Systems- Bentonville; Jasper Fultz, LPN White County Medical Center – Searcy; Dr. Scott Archer Saline Memorial Hospital – Benton and Loretta Williams, RN from the UAMS AR SAVES team! We had fabulous speakers throughout the conference but the common theme that was voiced by all — was Arkansas is a state that is tackling stroke as a team effort. I couldn’t be more proud to lead this effort.