Hot take, but everyone should be taught the symptoms and signs of a stroke. This should be a mandatory lesson in school.
Anyone could have a stroke, at any time, including you, the person reading this! If you were having a stroke wouldn't you want someone to be able to quickly identify it and get you help before it got really bad? Brain damage is fucking serious, and yet it's the butt of so many jokes and ehat most people know about it is the "burnt toast smell" which can be caused by many things.
So, as someone who has forced my mother to let me do her annual stroke test assessment to make sure she still knoes the stroke signs and everything, here are some things you can do to try and determine if someone is having a stroke. (Yes I passed the test everytime I did it and my mother would watch it with me)
Has their face drooped? Ask them to smile wide and if one or both sides of their face are drooping, they may be having a stroke. Call 911 or whatever emergency services
After this, ask them if you can touch their arms and legs to see if they can feel it. If they do not say yes or some affirmative DO NOT TOUCH THEM. Consent isn't just for sex, and this person is most likely going through a very traumatic sscenario. If they say yes, have them close their eyes and tell you which body part and or side you are touching them on. Let the 911 operator know your findings, and if they say no move on to the next step.
Test their speech. Have them say "I want my mother/mama" Can they say "a cactus is prickly"? If their speech is slurred then this is a sign of a stroke. Tell the 911 operator how severe the slurring is.
Have them try to raise their arms and legs. Let the operator know if they can or cannot raise any of their limbs, or if they have any difficulty.
Finally, ask them what year it is, what day it is, who's the president, where they are, etc. If they answer any of these questions wrong (especially if it seems like a really random answer) let the operator know.
Hopefully this helps someone. And please, for the love of fuck, treat stroke patients and survivors and people with brain damage like normal fucking people. Don't baby them and shit, and treat then like how you'd treat anyone else.
