The Florida Stroke Registry is managed by the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. It gets state funding to analyze stroke data from hospitals around the state.
Dr. Ralph Sacco is the registry’s director and a professor of neurology at UM. He’s urging more hospitals with stroke centers to join the registry. "Stroke is going up as a population ages. And in the state of Florida you know that the number of people over the age of 65 is high and those are some people at risk for stroke." Strokes involve disrupted blood flow to the brain. Signs include numbness or weakness in the face, arm or leg. Someone might have trouble speaking, seeing or walking. Sacco says one urgent problem they’ve found is that Black patients don’t always receive the same stroke care as non-Black patients. Like with endovascular treatments. "Which are the clot catheters we use to pull clots out of arteries. We still see that some of our Black patients are not getting the EVT treatment as quickly as we would like." They don’t know if it’s because of racism in healthcare, but are working with hospitals to stop the disparities. Participating hospitals are working with community health clinics to teach people to identify signs of a stroke.
UM Doctor Calls On More Hospitals To Join Florida Stroke Registry
