PCMH stroke-screening program funded by $235,000 grant

The program, which will also include education about the dangers of stroke and how to reduce one’s risk, will be funded by three-year grant totaling $235,308 from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust.

The Stroke Risk Identification Program will begin in Pitt County, where 600 people will receive stroke screenings to detect risk factors that can be corrected through medication, nutrition and other interventions. During years two and three, the program will be expanded to surrounding counties and hospitals. The grant will start Sept. 1. Screenings will begin once a nurse is hired to direct the project, probably late summer or early fall.

“Our health system, which is affiliated with the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University and private practices such as East Carolina Neurology, has been committed to providing high-quality care to stroke patients in eastern North Carolina for many years,” said Martha Dixon, PCMH vice president for general services. Her area of responsibility includes the stroke rehabilitation program at PCMH and its Regional Rehabilitation Center. “This grant will help us to better meet our mission and focus on prevention of brain attacks by screening the public and educating them about the warning signs of stroke.”

Stroke is a major cause of disability in the United States and the third leading killer of adults over age 35, according to the American Stroke Association. Stroke costs the United States between $30 and $40 billion a year, according to the association. North Carolina is in the “stroke belt” of southeastern states where stroke incidence is high, and the coastal plains regions of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia are sometimes referred to as the “buckle” of the stroke belt, where incidence is highest, according to the N.C. Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Task Force.

The stroke death rate in the buckle is two times greater than that in the rest of the nation, according to the task force, affecting men and women, blacks and whites. Causes that have been suggested include a higher prevalence of stroke risk factors, lack of access to health care, or factors associated with the geography of the region (such as water content).

In 1997, stroke killed 5,200 North Carolinians, or 8 percent of all deaths. North Carolina has the fifth highest stroke death rate in the country, and stroke death rates in Georgia and North Carolina are on the rise. Stroke death rates for African Americans in the Carolinas and Georgia are more than 50 percent higher than for whites, and strokes killed at least 50 percent more women than men in each of the three states during 1996. In 1997, cerebrovascular disease caused 29,900 hospitalizations in North Carolina resulting in hospital charges of more than $343 million.

N.C. Stroke Association officials expressed eagerness to get started with the project. “We look forward to helping Pitt County Memorial Hospital implement our programs starting in Pitt County and eventually expanding to the 29-county service area in eastern North Carolina,” said Mary Elizabeth Parks, executive director of the Stroke Association, based in Winston-Salem. “We appreciate the leadership Pitt County Memorial Hospital is demonstrating in taking action to address this devastating disease.”

An additional component of the grant is the hospital visitation program. The plan is to visit 80 percent of the 600 stroke survivors and their family members at PCMH and provide support and education about stroke recovery and prevention of further strokes.  The Stroke Association will provide the post-stroke materials. Researchers will make follow-up phone calls three months after the person’s stroke to check on each stroke survivor and provide additional support.

 “This marks the first in what we hope will be many hospital collaborations throughout the state to further our efforts to prevent stroke and provide aid to its victims,” said David N. Iauco, president of the Stroke Association. 

In 2000, PCMH was named one of the 100 top hospital benchmarks for stroke treatment by the health care consulting firm HCAI-Sachs, now known as Solucient.

The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust was created in 1947 by the will of Mrs. William Neal Reynolds of Winston-Salem. Three-fourths of the trust’s grants are designated for use for health-related programs and services across North Carolina. One-fourth are designated for the poor and needy of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.

The N.C. Stroke Association was created in 1998 and funded with a start-up grant from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust. Its mission is to reduce the incidence and impact of stroke by changing the way stroke is viewed and treated. Its goal is to create prevention and support programs that can be used in other North Carolina communities. Since the Stroke Association began, it has created and launched two centerpiece programs, the Stroke Risk Identification Program and the Hospital Visitation Program. The association is currently exploring a stroke program that addresses transition to the home.