Funding awarded to evaluate the National Stroke Foundation’s awareness campaign

Funding has been awarded to a team led by Dr Janet Bray and Prof Judith Finn from the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine's  Australian Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (AusROC), to evaluate the effectiveness of the National Stroke Foundation’s 2014 awareness campaign. 

The campaign aims to disseminate information on strokes, stroke risk factors, and how people can reduce their risk of strokes, through a variety of activities around the country.

 

Dr Bray and Prof Finn will investigate the effectiveness of the campaign.  They will work in conjunction with ambulance services, to see if more people are able to recognise that they are having a stroke when they call for help. Currently, caller recognition of stroke when calling ambulance services is low.
 

Strokes are caused by a blood clot or hemorrhage in the brain. They can potentially have permanent effects in a variety of areas, including speech, memory, and ability to walk. Fast treatment is vital to a patient’s chance of recovery.

 

For more information on the signs of a stroke, go to the National Stroke Foundation’s website