NEW ORLEANS – When someone has a stroke, every minute counts.
A stroke surgeon in New Orleans came up with a unique way to send an important medical message, and he shared it with WGNO’s Stephanie Oswald.
Dr. James ‘Jim’ Milburn is used to performing procedures to save stroke patients. But in recent times, he’s been doing less than normal when it comes to stroke treatment.
“As far as stroke it’s really tragic. In the last two months we’ve really seen about a 50 percent down tick nationally in stroke treatments,” says Dr. Milburn.
And he says it’s not because people aren’t having strokes. Instead, it’s because they are afraid of going to the hospital and contracting COVID-19.
So, along with his Miami-based friend, fellow stroke surgeon Dr. Guilherme Dabus, he created a public service announcement in the form of a song. The duo had a virtual jam session and they hope it will go viral.
They chose “Turn the Page” by Bob Seger. Dr. Milburn’s wife helped write the lyrics.
You can see the entire song by clicking here. Special thanks goes to the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery, the organization that helped make the project a reality.
You’ll see that aside from the two friends, leading stroke surgeons from across the country joined the effort, holding signs with important messages centered around signs of a stroke and the importance of thinking fast.
In this case, FAST stands for Face weakness, Arm weakness, Slurred speech and Time to call 9-1-1.
“The chance of developing a case of COVID by coming to the hospital is astronomically small, and the chance of us helping them with their stroke is very high,” says Dr. Milburn.
These surgeons hope their rock and roll operation goes viral to save lives.