Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/292053
by Jim Fitzgerald The Associated Press NEW YORK » — Andrea Es- teban tried to smile with half her face, crossing her eyes in the process, and her third-grade classmates gig - gled. Matthew Velez strug- gled to speak, "Luh, luh, uh, gronk," and the kids erupted in laughter. But the funny faces, the gibberish and some arm flap - ping were all part of a seri- ous lesson to help kids learn the telltale signs of a stroke by imitating them. The idea is to enlist children, partic - ularly those who may live with older relatives, as an army of eyes to help recog- nize the warning signs, get help for victims more quickly and hopefully save lives. "If my mom has a stroke, I'll know what to do," said 10-year-old Madison Mon - tes. "Run to the phone and call 911." The experimental health education program at Mon - tefiore Medical Center in the Bronx is aimed at the most crucial factor when it comes to a stroke: time. Each year, about 795,000 Americans have a stroke and about 130,000 die. Some are caused by bleeding in the brain, but the vast major - ity is caused by a clot that blocks blood flow, starving brain cells. The drug TPA can dissolve those clots and reduce disability but only if it's given within three to four hours of the first symp - toms, and the sooner the bet- ter. Yet only about 5 percent of patients receive it, in part because many stroke suffer- ers don't get to the hospital in time for testing to tell if they're a candidate. The early warning signs include a droopy side of the face, slurred or strange speech, and the inability to keep arms raised. "There's a pretty good chance some children might witness a parent or a grand - parent having a stroke," said Jim Baranski, CEO of the National Stroke Association. "So if they're armed with the signs and symptoms, they could likely save a life." Montefiore's program, one of a handful tried across the country, has been used since 2012 with private schools in its neighborhood, where chil - dren are often in a grandpar- ent's care because parents are absent or both working. The goal is to study the re- sults and, if successful, repli- cate the program across the country. "The kids get a kick out of it because they get to do a little acting," said Dr. Rob - ert Glover, a neurologist who helped develop the program. "But when they're done, they know about stroke and they can teach their families." Dr. Kathryn Kirchoff- Torres, who led the class from St. Ann's School in the Bronx, said the kids are al - ready "little message ma- chines" bringing home from school what they learn about the benefits of exercise, not smoking and eating well. At the start of the stroke class last month, in a first- floor room at the hospital, the doctor asked, "Who knows what a stroke is?" "A heart attack?" one child offered. "Well, we like to call it a brain attack," Kirchoff-Tor - res said. "It's a problem with the brain." She then taught the children to use the word "FAST" as a memory de - vice. With cartoons and mu- sic bringing the point home, they learned "F'' is for face, "A'' is for arms, "S'' is for speech and "T'' is for time. After the play-acting and the multimedia show, the doctor invited questions from the children. "How do you catch a stroke?" one boy asked. The doctor assured him that strokes are not contagious but can be caused by "high blood pressure, smoking cig - arettes, junk food." "What if we don't have a phone?" a girl asked. Kir- choff suggested asking a neighbor or running to a storefront. "What if you live in the desert?" was the follow-up question, to which Kirchoff smiled and said, "It's a good thing you live in the Bronx." After the class, the chil - dren were presented with pens labeled "FAST" and with pencil erasers in the shape of human brains, which were very popular. One parent in attendance, Jason Sawtelle, said he felt the lesson "plants the seed" "Maybe not every 8-year- old is capable of this," he said, "but some certainly are." Similar programs have been tried elsewhere. At Harlem Hospital in Man - hattan, Dr. Olajide Williams uses hip-hop music to en- gage New York City fourth- through sixth-graders in three hours a year of stroke education. "Beyond sixth grade, the kids become a little too cool," Williams said. But with the younger kids, "we've shown that these children can learn basic stroke pathology." He said at least two children have been credited with helping to save lives. A similar stroke education study in the Corpus Christi, Texas, public schools used Tejano music. It was headed by Dr. Lewis Morgenstern, director of the stroke program at the Uni - versity of Michigan Medical School. The 2007 study found that the youngsters responded well. "The data was highly pos - itive in terms of knowledge about stroke and their in- tention to call 911," Morgen- stern said. "The earlier we can make people aware of stroke and that it's arguably the most treatable of all catastrophic conditions, the better off we will be." AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report. ExpERimENtal hEalth pROgRam Children learn stroke signs through imitation 'Kids are already little message machines' says doctor and class leader Jim Fitzgerald — the associated Press third-graders at montefiore hospital examine a plastic model of a brain during a class to help them recognize the symptoms of stroke and how to react quickly. "if my mom has a stroke i'll know what to do. Run to the phone and call 911" — 10-year-old Madison Montes By gisela telis The Washington Post Jodi Corbitt had been battling depression for de- cades and by 2010 had re- signed herself to taking an- tidepressant medication for the rest of her life. Then she decided to start a dietary experiment. To lose weight, the 47-year-old Catonsville, Md., mother stopped eat - ing gluten, a protein found in wheat and related grains. Within a month she had shed several pounds — and her lifelong depression. "It was like a veil lifted and I could see life more clearly," she recalled. "It changed everything." Corbitt had stumbled into an area that scientists have recently begun to in - vestigate: whether food can have as powerful an impact on the mind as it does on the body. Research exploring the link between diet and men - tal health "is a very new field; the first papers only came out a few years ago," said Michael Berk, a pro - fessor of psychiatry at the Deakin University School of Medicine in Australia. "But the results are unusually consistent, and they show a link between diet quality and mental health." "Diet quality" refers to the kinds of foods that peo - ple eat, how often they eat them and how much of them they eat. In several studies, including a 2011 analysis of more than 5,000 Norwe - gians, Berk and his collab- orators have found lower rates of depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder among those who consumed a tra - ditional diet of meat and vegetables than among peo- ple who followed a modern Western diet heavy with processed and fast foods or even a health-food diet of tofu and salads. "Traditional diets — the kinds of foods your grand - mother would have recog- nized — have been asso- ciated with a lower risk of mental health issues," Berk said. Interestingly, that traditional diet may vary widely across cultures, in - cluding wheat for some peo- ple but not for others; the common element seems to be whole, unprocessed, nu- trient-dense foods. "There's lots of hype about the Mediterranean diet 1/8fruits, vegetables, whole grains, olive oil, nuts, fis h3 /8 b ut t he tra di ti on al Norwegian diet 1/8fish, shellfish, game, root veg - etables, dairy products, whole-wheat bread3/8 and the traditional Japanese diet 1/8fish, tofu, rice3/8 appear to be just as pro - tective" of mental health, he said. The association between diet and mental well-being may start even before birth. A 2013 study of more than 23,000 mothers and their children, led by Berk's frequent collaborator and Deakin colleague Felice Jacka, suggests a link be - tween a mother's consump- tion of sweets and pro- cessed foods during preg- nancy and behavioral and mental health issues in her child at age 5. Another view "I changed my diet be- cause I had gastrointesti- nal issues," said a 32-year- old woman with bipolar disorder who lives in San Francisco and asked not to be named because she worries about being stig - matized. Three years ago, at her gastroenterologist's urg- ing, she tried the Atkins diet and found relief — not just from her digestive is- sues but also from her men- tal illness, which had at one point nearly derailed her life. "I noticed within a day or two the marked difference in my head," she recalled. "It felt clear for the first time in years and years." That may seem like a surprisingly quick turn - around, but Jacka said it is not out of the question. "We know from animal studies and a human study that a poor diet can impair mem - ory and attention within a week," she said. The woman no longer takes the medication pre - scribed to treat her bipolar disorder, and she said she has remained stable for the past three years. She said she has sought out psychiatric and neuro - logical researchers across the country, hoping to share her experience and to learn what they know, but has found little interest in her story and few studies pertaining to it. 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