The following summary defines the North Carolina Stroke Association’s scope of services as it works toward developing a healthier community.  The North Carolina Stroke Association has been in operation since 1999 and its mission is to reduce the incidence and impact of stroke through screening and education.  The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust provided operational seed money. The North Carolina Stroke Association’s goal is to create transportable stroke programs that address stroke prevention, stroke education, and post-stroke services.  The North Carolina Stroke Association was founded in 1998 by a group of physicians and lay persons who saw a need to create a stroke association to address problems generated by the high prevalence of stroke in North Carolina. Nationally, approximately 739,000 strokes occur, annually. North Carolina is in the “stroke buckle” with South Carolina and Georgia where stroke death rate is two times greater than the national average. Among the “stroke buckle” states, North Carolina follows South Carolina and precedes Georgia in stroke death rate.

Stroke disables more than it kills and it is the leading cause of serious long-term adult disability.  Nationally, there are approximately 4.8 million stroke survivors of whom two-thirds are moderately or severely disabled. The single most important fact, in the face of these statistics, is that stroke is largely preventable.

The North Carolina Stroke Association has two centerpiece programs: Stroke Risk Identification Program and the Beyond the Hospital Program.  

All programs are exported to hospitals to implement. Funding to hospitals to assist them in implementing stroke programs is available through the NC Stroke Association Partnership Grant Program.

The Stroke Risk Identification Program is designed to: 1) identify individuals who are at high risk of developing stroke; 2) review and counsel with the participants screening results, and 3) provide them with identified community medical resources for intervention treatment.  The correlation between the high frequency of cerebrovascular disease and the incidence of poverty supports our priority efforts in the elderly, the working poor and the minority populations. The program is standardized, and data is available in aggregate or site specific.         

The NC Stroke Association is currently in the process of enhancing the post-stroke outcomes and secondary prevention with “Beyond the Hospital”, a program that is designed to meet JCACHO standards of patient education, using evidenced- based questions. Then, put a button from this page “Beyond the Hospital” to it.  The association’s infrastructure provides the mechanism for implementation, and it was piloted at Stanly Regional Medical Center, and launched, statewide, in 2007. The program is standardized, and data will be available, hospital specific.

In addition, the NC Stroke Association provides thousands of stroke survivors with post-stroke education through its biannual Stroke Notes publication. In June 2004, the North Carolina Stroke Association launched its first publication. In July 2007, the Stroke Association created the NC Partnership Grant Program for hospitals to apply for funding of stroke programs.    

Strategic Partnerships           

The North Carolina Stroke Association’s local efforts have resulted in enlarging its circle of influence in the state as it takes the lead in providing stroke prevention, education, and post-stroke services for the high-risk and underserved populations. The stroke association has identified hospitals in the state where program sites will serve the surrounding communities. The strategic design will encapsulate, in concentric circles, all counties of the state. Through these Partnerships, the NC Stroke Association will facilitate its programs.

North Carolina Stroke Association Hospital Partnerships:

The North Carolina Stroke Association is a 501(c)3 charitable organization dedicated to its mission of reducing the incidence and impact of stroke through screenings and education.  Its goal is to create transportable stroke programs that address stroke prevention, stroke education, and post-stroke services.  Its numerous hospital partnerships include: Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, Forsyth Medical Center, Stanly Regional Medical Center, Caldwell Memorial Hospital, Onslow Memorial Hospital, Maria Parham Hospital, Mission Hospitals, Thomasville Medical Center, Lexington Memorial Hospital, Pitt County Memorial Hospital, and Albemarle Hospital.

Additional History on Stroke Prevention and Education Activities

In 2004, the North Carolina Stroke Association partnered with Forsyth Medical Center on a CDC funded three-year Stroke Initiative Project, CITIES, in Forsyth County that focuses on minority populations and individuals who have limited access to healthcare and limited education on stroke risk identification and treatment.  

In October 2002 and 2004, the North Carolina Stroke Association co-sponsored with Wake Forest University Health Sciences stroke prevention symposiums that provided category 1 credits to the physicians who attended. In April 2005, the association partnered with Forsyth Medical Center as the latter organized and staged a CME stroke seminar.

In 2005, the North Carolina Stroke Association received grant money to create a library of stroke education brochures that are written at a level that the majority of people understand. The materials are accessible and affordable and they are available to the North Carolina Stroke Association’s partnership hospitals and the communities they serve. The topics include: the North Carolina Stroke Association Brain Brochure, Reducing Risk and Recognizing Symptoms, Smoking and Stroke, African-Americans and Stroke, Diabetes and Stroke, High Blood Pressure and Stroke, Exercise and Stroke, Nutrition Guide, Healthy Eating Recipes, and Acute Care Decisions for the Caregiver and Stroke Survivor.

In year 2004, the North Carolina Stroke Association received a $50,000 grant to conduct a treatment follow-up component for high risk screening participants. The outcome revealed stroke risk screenings are an effective tool for education, and for people to seek intervention for stroke risk. The Stroke Association is planning a next step longitudinal study that will examine long-term health benefits as people seek intervention and as they adjust lifestyles to lesson stroke risk.

 The Stroke Association continues in its stroke education among EMS professionals among various counties. Nurses provide current literature on modalities of treatment and care.        

On the NC Stroke Association website is information about the “Cycle for Life…2007”, the annual bike tour that is now in its fourth year.  “Stroke Notes” publications are archived on the website.