Events Set at UA for Childhood Stroke Awareness Week

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama Pediatric Stroke Initiative, a joint project of the College of the Community Health Sciences and the Honors College, will hold events on campus during Childhood Stroke Awareness Week April 27-May 1.

Stroke is the sixth-leading cause of death in children, and 25 in 100,000 children, including newborns, will experience stroke. More than half of children who have a stroke will suffer long-term disability.

UA student director and founder of the initiative, Alan Blinder, said researchers attribute these statistics to a lack of awareness, and say that, on average, it takes 24 hours to diagnose a child with stroke. Physicians say that, for optimal results, treatment must begin within three hours of the onset of symptoms.

According to Blinder, a child is 20 percent more likely to have a stroke in the Southeast. The Pediatric Stroke Initiative is the first program of its kind in the southeastern United States and has been in development since August 2008. The initiative takes aim at pediatric stroke using a three-pronged, interdisciplinary approach of advocacy, awareness and research.

Leaders in the field are taking note of the initiative, and two University Fellows from the UA Honors College will spend part of Childhood Stroke Awareness Week in Pennsylvania with Dr. Rebecca Ichord, a pediatric stroke neurologist at the top-ranked Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

In Tuscaloosa, events for Childhood Stroke Awareness Week include:

-Faculty members in the Capstone College of Nursing and the College of Education will distribute information to students about stroke in children.

-Blinder, who is also a columnist for the Crimson White, will devote his April 29 column to pediatric stroke.

-Pediatricians at the University Medical Center will emphasize the importance of diet and exercise while also mentioning that kids can have strokes, too.

-Medical students on rotations in neurology or pediatrics will receive additional training in the area of childhood stroke.

In addition to Blinder, fellow freshmen Honors College students Annie Ostrow, and Mike Zhang, lead the Pediatric Stroke Initiative. Wellon Bridgers, coordinator of the University Fellows Experience, Dr. E. Eugene Marsh, dean of the College of Community Health Sciences, and Dr. Jacqueline Morgan, associate dean of the Honors College, serve as advisers to the program.