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Tag: stroke recovery

  • Cindy McCain suffers a mild stroke and will take leave from World Food Program while recovering

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    Cindy McCain, the widow of Sen. John McCain and head of the U.N. World Food Program, suffered a mild stroke this week and is said to be recovering “well,” according to a press release Thursday from the humanitarian organization. The statement said McCain, 71, is expected to make a “full recovery” and will be traveling from Rome, where the WFP is based, to Arizona to focus on her recuperation. She will return to her post after her doctors have cleared her in four to six weeks. “I want to thank the medical staff in Italy for the excellent treatment I received,” said McCain. “My recovery is progressing well thanks to their outstanding care.”McCain was appointed in March 2023 to lead the world’s largest humanitarian organization after serving as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. agencies for food and agriculture under former President Joe Biden. McCain broke with Republicans when she endorsed Biden for president in 2020, making her a key surrogate for the Democrat after now-President Donald Trump spent years criticizing her husband and his military service. She has since become the face of the World Food Program, one of the few U.N. agencies that has received bipartisan support for its efforts to help nearly 150 million people confronting conflicts, disasters, and impacts of climate change this year. McCain and the WFP have been in the spotlight as the agency has sought to respond to the humanitarian crises caused by the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and Israel’s offensive inside the Gaza Strip. In late August, after visiting Gaza, McCain told The Associated Press it was “very evident” that there isn’t enough food in the Palestinian territory. She said she had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the urgent need for more aid.Her comments came a week after the world’s leading authority on food crises said the Gaza Strip’s largest city is gripped by famine, and that it was likely to spread across the territory without a ceasefire and an end to restrictions on humanitarian aid.”I personally met mothers and children who were starving in Gaza,” she said. “It is real and it is happening now,”An advocate for children, McCain has served on the board of directors for Operation Smile, a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing facial deformities for children around the world, visiting India, Morocco, and Vietnam, the joint announcement said.McCain succeeded David Beasley, a former South Carolina governor who had led WFP through challenging times, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the global food crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Beasley was at the helm when the World Food Program was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020, in part for being “a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.”Carl Skau, the deputy executive director of WFP, is expected to oversee the organization’s day-to-day operations until McCain’s return. In the statement Thursday, McCain said she has “full confidence” in her leadership team’s ability” to stay laser-focused on delivering urgently needed food assistance to the more than 100 million people WFP is working to serve across 87 countries.”She added, “The fight against hunger has never been more critical, and I am incredibly proud of the work our teams do every day. I look forward to being back in the field soon — alongside WFP teams — pushing back against famine and supporting communities in need.”

    NEW YORK —

    Cindy McCain, the widow of Sen. John McCain and head of the U.N. World Food Program, suffered a mild stroke this week and is said to be recovering “well,” according to a press release Thursday from the humanitarian organization.

    The statement said McCain, 71, is expected to make a “full recovery” and will be traveling from Rome, where the WFP is based, to Arizona to focus on her recuperation. She will return to her post after her doctors have cleared her in four to six weeks.

    “I want to thank the medical staff in Italy for the excellent treatment I received,” said McCain. “My recovery is progressing well thanks to their outstanding care.”

    McCain was appointed in March 2023 to lead the world’s largest humanitarian organization after serving as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. agencies for food and agriculture under former President Joe Biden. McCain broke with Republicans when she endorsed Biden for president in 2020, making her a key surrogate for the Democrat after now-President Donald Trump spent years criticizing her husband and his military service.

    She has since become the face of the World Food Program, one of the few U.N. agencies that has received bipartisan support for its efforts to help nearly 150 million people confronting conflicts, disasters, and impacts of climate change this year. McCain and the WFP have been in the spotlight as the agency has sought to respond to the humanitarian crises caused by the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and Israel’s offensive inside the Gaza Strip.

    In late August, after visiting Gaza, McCain told The Associated Press it was “very evident” that there isn’t enough food in the Palestinian territory. She said she had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the urgent need for more aid.

    Her comments came a week after the world’s leading authority on food crises said the Gaza Strip’s largest city is gripped by famine, and that it was likely to spread across the territory without a ceasefire and an end to restrictions on humanitarian aid.

    “I personally met mothers and children who were starving in Gaza,” she said. “It is real and it is happening now,”

    An advocate for children, McCain has served on the board of directors for Operation Smile, a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing facial deformities for children around the world, visiting India, Morocco, and Vietnam, the joint announcement said.

    McCain succeeded David Beasley, a former South Carolina governor who had led WFP through challenging times, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the global food crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Beasley was at the helm when the World Food Program was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020, in part for being “a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.”

    Carl Skau, the deputy executive director of WFP, is expected to oversee the organization’s day-to-day operations until McCain’s return.

    In the statement Thursday, McCain said she has “full confidence” in her leadership team’s ability” to stay laser-focused on delivering urgently needed food assistance to the more than 100 million people WFP is working to serve across 87 countries.”

    She added, “The fight against hunger has never been more critical, and I am incredibly proud of the work our teams do every day. I look forward to being back in the field soon — alongside WFP teams — pushing back against famine and supporting communities in need.”

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  • Black Stroke Survivors Less Likely to Get Treated for Complications

    Black Stroke Survivors Less Likely to Get Treated for Complications

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    By Steven Reinberg 

    HealthDay Reporter

    THURSDAY, Feb. 2, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Having a stroke is a life-altering experience, and complications can crop up afterwards, but a new study finds the color of your skin may determine whether you are treated for them.

    In the year following a stroke, Black and Hispanic patients were not treated for common complications as often as white patients were, researchers found.
     

    “Black patients were less likely to receive medical treatment for nearly every post-stroke complication, the largest differences were for the treatment of fatigue, depression and spasticity [muscle stiffness],” said lead researcher Dr. Kent Simmonds, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

    “The large magnitude of treatment gaps ensures the pressing need for health care systems and providers to do a better job of actively recognizing post-stroke complications within minority populations and provide patients with explanations towards how and why medical treatment may help,” Simmonds said.

    These disparities exist because of a complex set of “bio-psycho-social-environmental factors,” he added.

    This type of study is best at identifying the what rather than the why, but the results are consistent with earlier studies that found quality stroke care is not a given, Simmonds said.

    “Quality care requires cultural competence and trust between providers and their patients,” he explained. “Many of the complications, such as fatigue and depression, require health care providers to dig a little deeper to identify these issues prior to offering and discussing appropriate medical treatments.”

    For the study, Simmonds and his colleagues analyzed the health records from 65 large U.S. health care centers of patients hospitalized for stroke between August 2002 and July 2022.

    They found that Black patients were less likely to be treated for any complications except seizure, when compared with white patients. The biggest difference was in the treatment of central nervous system arousal, fatigue, muscle spasms and mood within two weeks of a stroke.

    Compared with white patients, Black patients adults were 30% less likely to be treated for central nervous system arousal, 27% less likely to be treated for muscle spasms and 17% less likely to be treated for mood irregularities, the researchers found.

    Hispanic patients were 20% less likely to get treatment for central nervous system arousal, 19% less likely to get treatment for muscle spasms and 16% less likely to get treatment for mood irregularities than white patients, Simmonds said.

    The findings are slated for presentation on Feb. 8 at the American Stroke Association’s annual meeting, in Dallas. Findings presented at medical meetings are considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

    “It’s not surprising that this study found disparities in the utilization of therapies to treat conditions like depression and seizures in Black and Hispanic adults,” said Dr. Karen Furie, a spokesperson for the American Stroke Association and chair of neurology at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School.

    It is not clear why these disparities exist, said Furie, who was not involved in the study.

    “For instance, perhaps it’s less likely for clinicians to screen for these conditions in certain subpopulations of patients. Perhaps there are groups of patients who are resistant to taking therapies, or there may be problems with either access to treatments, or issues concerning the expense of therapies that lead to non-compliance with recommendations,” she noted.

    “Fortunately, there’s a lot we know about how to help patients recover, but clinicians can’t treat unless patients and families make them aware of the issues of mood, level of function and potential complications,” Furie said. “This study, hopefully, is one of many that will help us identify communities that need more help and help health care providers do more to standardize the delivery of care for patients and families in the post-acute period.”

    More information

    For more on stroke, see the American Stroke Association.

     

    SOURCES: Kent Simmonds, DO, PhD, resident, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas; Karen Furie, MD, MPH, spokesperson, American Stroke Association, professor and chair, neurology, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence, R.I.; presentation, American Stroke Association annual meeting, Dallas, Feb. 8, 2023

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  • Fetterman’s Recovery Highlights Road Back From Stroke

    Fetterman’s Recovery Highlights Road Back From Stroke

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    Oct. 21, 2022 – John Fetterman, Democratic candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, is recovering well from a stroke he had in late spring, according to a medical report from his primary care doctor. 

    In his evaluation of Fetterman, Clifford Chen, MD, concluded that “he has no work restrictions and can work full duty in public office.” Fetterman is currently lieutenant governor. 

    But Chen also noted that the Senate candidate has exhibited symptoms of an auditory processing disorder that can cause hearing difficulties. While this means that Fetterman doesn’t always properly process words spoken aloud, his communication skills have reportedly improved significantly since his first speech therapy appointment. 

    Fetterman had what’s known as an ischemic stroke, the most common type. Nearly 87% of all strokes are ischemic, meaning there is an artery blockage that prevents blood flow to the brain. 

    Though we don’t have many more details about his stroke, Lee Schwamm, MD, a vascular neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston says that, given his symptoms, it’s likely that Fetterman experienced a blockage in his middle cerebral artery. And if Fetterman is right-handed, Schwamm says, his language systems live in the left side of his brain, so the stroke would have been in the left-middle cerebral artery in particular. 

    For recent interviews, Fetterman has relied on visual aids like a teleprompter and closed captioning, and plans to do the same for an upcoming debate against his opponent, Republican Mehmet Oz, who is a board-certified heart surgeon. Oz has been particularly vocal about Fetterman’s health in the wake of his stroke, going so far as to suggest that the candidate’s wife might have to serve as Senator in his place. 

    But experts see that as a likely exaggeration.

    “In general, patients who have a mild receptive language difficulty don’t have any change in IQ – their cognitive abilities are not altered,” says Gregory Albers, MD, neurologist and director of Stanford University’s Stroke Center. He added that, after a stroke, patients can have a recovery that lasts over a long period of time. 

    “Although the most rapid recovery happens in the first few months, continued recovery is expected over many months,” Albers says. 

    Schwamm says that a political debate – or any forum that requires more on-the-fly thinking and communication – will be the best measure of his abilities. But he doesn’t expect that Fetterman will function at his highest level of performance during a debate setting, which can be stressful for anyone, stroke or not. 

    Also, Schwamm, says, we have many senators and representatives who need assistive devices like canes or wheelchairs, are on medication for heart disease, or have some degree of dementia – but we don’t block them from political life or remove them for office for their health conditions. 

    “Accommodation is not weakness, accommodation is a mechanism for leveling the playing field so that people can perform at their highest levels,” says Schwamm. “We have to embrace the fact that people process information differently, even if you’ve never had a stroke. What matters is the product of their work, not the method of their work.” 

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