FORUM
technology,
disability. Stroke is the
advanced
FAJS.T.
Forest Innovation Quarter, the Triad and Wake Forest
Allison
Brashear
Guest
Columnist
Oct. 29 was World
Stroke Day, but every day
we all need to remember to
think F.A.S.T. The
American Heart
Association will be spon
soring the 2017 Winston
Salem Heart and Stroke
Walk on Nov. 11 at Bailey
Park in the Wake Forest
Innovation Quarter, but
here are some tips to help
you start thinking about
strokes and how to prevent
them.
What is stroke? Stroke
happens when a clot or rup
ture interrupts blood flow
to the brain. Without oxy
gen-rich blood, brain cells
die and every minute mat
ters.
Why should you care?
Worldwide, stroke is the
No. 2 cause of death and a
leading cause of serious
fifth leading killer in the
U.S. and is the fourth lead
ing cause of death in
Forsyth County. The num
ber of strokes is sharply up
for those under 55. The
American Heart
Association and Wake
Forest Baptist Medical
Center are partnering to
raise awareness of stroke in
Forsyth County. Now it is
more critical than ever. We
know that every 40 sec
onds someone suffers a
stroke in the U.S.
Treatment is available but
must be given quickly.
Tune is brain!
What do you need to
know? The majority of
stroke patients still do not
arrive at the Emergency
Department quickly
enough to receive the care
that can dramatically
improve their outcomes, in
large part because they or
those around them do not
recognize the warning
signs and the importance of
calling 9-1-1. Tell every
one in your life what the
acronym F.A.S.T. stands
for:
♦Face Drooping - Does
one side of the face droop
or is it numb? Ask the per
son to smile. Is the person's
smile uneven?
♦Arm Weakness - Is
one arm weak or numb?
Ask the person to raise
both arms. Does one arm
drift downward?
♦Speech Difficulty - Is
speech slurred? Is the per
son unable to speak or hard
to understand? Ask the per
son to repeat a simple sen
tence, like "The sky is
blue."
♦Time to Call 9-1-1 - If
someone shows any of
these symptoms, even if
the symptoms go away, call
9-1-1 and get to a hospital
immediately. (Tip: Check
the time so you'll know
when the first symptoms
appeared.)
Without oxygen-rich
blood, brain cells die. Time
loss is brain loss.
Receiving immediate, pro
fessional help can get you
the immediate treatment to
greatly improve recovery
outcomes. With today’s
stroke is more treataoie
than ever before. There are
treatments that can help
significantly reduce dis
ability and even death in a
stroke emergency. Stroke
patients treated with a clot
busting drug within 90
minutes of their first symp
toms are almost three times
more likely to recover with
little or no disability.
Can you prevent
stroke? Up to 80 percent of
strokes can be prevented.
High blood pressure, often
referred to as the silent
killer, is a leading cause for
stroke. According to the
American Stroke
Association, every 10
mmHg drop in systolic
blood pressure equates to
an average 41 percent
reduction in stroke risk.
Quitting smoking, main
taining a healthy diet and
weight, and staying active
can help to prevent stroke.
How can you help?
Join the American Heart
Association for the 2017
Winston-Salem Heart and
Stroke Walk on Nov. 11 at
Bailey Park in the Wake
sponsored by wake forest
Baptist Health and
MedCost, the festivities
begin at 8:30 a.m. and the
walk begins at 10 aan. All
funds raised at the Walk
benefit heart disease and
stroke research and preven
tion education in our com
munity. Bring your family,
friends, neighbors, and co
workers to help celebrate
the 25th Anniversary of the
Heart & Stroke Walk in
Forsyth County!
Get your exercise in
with the 1, 2 or 4-mile
stroller and dog-friendly
walk. The After Party from
10 a.m. to noon includes
heart-healthy food trucks,
local mascots and live
music by The WINmars.
Your dollars help others in
our community learn the
F.A.S.T. warning signs,
teach our community how
to prevent stroke, and help
fund the next big advance
ments in stroke care. Five
current research grants,
totaling $1.2 million, are
currently being funded by
the American Heart
Association right here in
Baptist is currently con
ducting a number of clini
cal trials related to stroke.
(www.WakeHealth.edu/Be
Involved/)
For more information
about the Winston-Salem
Heart & Stroke Walk, visit
www.winstonsalemheart
walk.org, email winston
salemheartwalk@heart.org
, or call (336)542-4828.
For more information
about stroke and to find a
complete list of the stroke
warning signs, visit
w ww.StrokeAssociation .or
g or
w ww.WakeHealth .edu/Stro
ke.
Allison Brashear, MD,
MBA is professor & chair
woman of Neurology, Wake
Forest Baptist Medical
Center in Winston-Salem,
president of the American
Heart Association’s Triad
Board of Directors and co
chair of the Winston-Salem
Heart & Stroke Walk.
Why are legislative leaders so
afraid of fairer elections?
The latest
news from the
federal courts
about the
unconstitu
tional racially
gerryman
dered General
Assembly dis
tricts and the
response to it from legislative leaders
makes one thing clearer than ever.
The folks in charge of the House and
Senate are terribly afraid of what will hap
pen if our elections are fairer, if every dis
trict is not gerrymandered by race and par
tisan considerations to all but guarantee
that their supermajorities will remain in
place, and if the voters have a slightly bet
ter chance at electing Who they want
instead of having their representatives
chosen for them.
That’s the only conclusion you can
draw from the bitter reaction from legisla
tive leaders to their latest setback in the
courts - that they are scared - as a three
judge panel brushed aside lawmakers’
objections and hired an outside expert to
redraw several districts lawmakers drew
after their original maps were struck down
as unconstitutional because of the role
race played in their development.
A spokesperson for the Senate leader
ship told the Associated Press that the
court has “seized the constitutional and
sovereign right to draw districts from law
makers to an unelected California college
professor with clear conflicts of interest.
We are disturbed the court has apparently
planned all along to achieve its preferred
political outcome and are reviewing our
legal options.”
R Chris
Fitzsimon
Guest
Columnist
This from a General Assembly that has
not only been given two chances to draw
constitutional districts and failed each
time but also has been allowed to hold an
election using the illegal districts.
Legislators in the House and Senate
were elected in 2016 under maps that
judges appointed by Republicans and
judges appointed by Democrats have
agreed were unconstitutional. Now leg
islative leaders are desperately trying to
delay the case against them long enough to
force the 2018 elections to be held with
illegal districts too.
That seems highly unlikely. The three
judge panel said in this week’s ruling
appointing the outside expert that “the
state is not entitled to multiple opportuni
ties to remedy its unconstitutional dis
tricts.”
In other words, legislative leaders have
had their chances but they could not resist
r
Photo by Melissa Boughton
drawing another set of illegal districts.
They apparently don’t trust the voters to
reelect them otherwise.
And raising the question of “sover
eignty” at this point is an interesting
response. North Carolina at last check was
still part of the United States and therefore
subject to the decisions and orders of the
federal courts and every level of the court
system has weighed in on this case and
found that the legislative districts violated
the U.S. Constitution, which at this point
also governs North Carolina.
The federal courts have long been
involved in redistricting disputes and are
now considering two cases questioning the
constitutionality of extreme partisan ger
rymandering, with one of them now before
the U.S. Supreme Court.
As to outside experts drawing the new
districts, it’s not unusual for the courts to
rely on one and the Republicans them
selves started that trend this time by using
an out of state GOP hired gun to draw the
original and illegal districts that the courts
have repeatedly struck down.
House Redistricting Chair David
Lewis famously said of the gerrymandered
congressional districts that were also
struck down that the only reason he drew
10 Republican districts of the 13 in North
Carolina is that he could not figure out
how to draw 11 that favored Republicans.
The same is true of the General
Assembly districts that the courts have
rejected. They were drawn using race to
guarantee Republican supermajorities;
The only reason there are not more
Republican districts is that they couldn’t
figure out ho\^p draw them either.
It does all Bake you wonder why leg
islative leaders are so panicked. They tell
us every day that their policies that have
cut taxes on the wealthy and corporations,
underfunded our schools, and rolled back
important environmental protections are
popular with the people in North Carolina.
There is a simple way to find out if that
is true. Stop fighting to maintain districts
that make fair elections impossible. Let’s
have a more honest election - without the
courts making us do it - and see what hap
pens.
Chris Fitzsimon is founder and execu
tive director ofN.C. Policy Watch. Contact
him at chris@ncpolicywatch.com.
Article printed from NC Policy Watch:
http://wwwjicpolicywatch .com
Copyright © 2016 NC Policy Watch.
All rights reserved.
Pro athletes use different platform for protesting
■
El
Guest
Columnist
James B.
Ewers Jr.
If
you want a hot topic1 to
debate and gather some
opinions about it, I have an
issue for you.
Why not talk about the
flag controversy that has
been brewing since last
year. Colin Kaepemick
kneeled during the playing
of the National Anthem
and it has created a
firestorm.
It seems that because
Colin Kaepemick was an
NFL player that an instant
social justice platform was
launched. I suspect if Joe
or Josephine average
would have made the
attempt, it probably would*
i
have taken longer.
I have been attending
athletic events for years
and have observed that not
everyone stands when our
national anthem is played.
I, nor any of the people
around me, made any com
ments to the person who
didn’t stand. I wonder
why?
Was it because it was
none of our business?
Could it have been because
we didn’t want to get into a
protracted conversation
about why they didn’t
stand? Or lastly, could it
have been that we wanted
the game to begin and
enjoy ourselves?
Certainly, before
Kaepemick, you didn’t see
cameras scanning the
crowd to see who was
standing and who was sit
ting. People go to games to
get an emotional release
from the everyday issues of
life.
I
When we pay as fans
roughly $200 for tickets,
parking, refreshments and
a T-shirt, do we really want
to engage the fan next to us
about his or her political
views? Probably not.
Does that mean we
don’t care? No. However it
does mean in my opinion
that the venue is the wrong
one to have that type of dis
cussion.
Just think if the cam
eras had not shown
Kaepemick kneeling,
would there be this debate?
That’s a good question. We
don’t need to answer that
question because the cam
eras did show him taking a
knee, so the stage was set.
His kneeling has
sparked a movement not
only in professional sports
like football and basketball
but also in homes across
America.
Everyone has an opin
ion and wants to make a
statement about it. If things
go as planned, Colin
Kaepemick will attend the
next meeting between the
players and the owners.
Speaking of the own
ers, Robert C. McNair,
owner of the Houston
Texans, said, “We can’t
have the inmates running
the prison.” Of course,
those comments led the
Houston Texan players to
kneel in their game against
the Seattle Seahawks.
Now if you ask me, I
don’t think McNair
thought he would get this
kind of reaction from what
he said. Arthur Blank,
owner of the Atlanta
Falcons, said he used the
wrong expression and
McNair is really a “solid
citizen.” i
Well, I think you must
hold McNair accountable
for what he said. I remem
ber my mom telling me
when I was a boy that if
you can’t say something
good about someone to just
keep your mouth closed.
Mr. McNair should have
just kept his mouth closed.
What Colin Kaepemick
did last year, while new to
some, was not new if you
are old-school like many of
us.
John Carlos and
Tommie Smith, two
Olympic champions, gave
the Black Power salute at
the 1968 Olympics in
Mexico City. The Black
Power salut? was a
clenched fist raised in the
air. Both Carlos and Smith
used their sport to call
attention to the social issue
of the time and that was
how black people were
being treated in America.
Unfortunately, Carlos,
Smith and Kaepemick
were and are dealing with
the same issue.
Professional athletes
occupy a unique position
*v
that we don’t have. Some
have chosen to use their
platform to bring attention
to issues of social justice.
NFL players like Doug
Baldwin and Richard
Sherman of the Seahawks
are speaking truth to
power. Those in positions
of power cannot shy away
from understanding the
importance of these issues
and the subsequent actions
and reactions.
Professional athletes
are not property. They have
ideas they want to bring
forward for the common
good. We as fans cannot
think they are mindless and
thoughtless people who
have nothing to say. They
are not gladiators in an
arena.
That is why some fans
get so upset now because
they want athletes to “stay
in their place.”
Their place is in
America, just like ours is.