Doctors are urging people to know the signs of stroke and get immediate treatment, as data shows people are staying away from hospitals amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Assistant surgeon Dr Sarah Spargo was almost through a routine hip replacement when she started seeing double. She suspected something in her eye, so she blinked and shook her head. It didn't work.
Dr Sarah Spargo, who suffered a stroke while performing surgery, is urging Australians to seek treatments a the first signs."I remember looking up and not being sure who to look at. He said, very calmly, 'I think we’ll get an emergency CT [scan]'."Within minutes she was being wheeled through the corridors connecting St Vincent's private and public hospitals to the emergency department.
"Maybe if I was 74. But I’m 54. And not just 54, but in the best health I’ve been in in years. There’s no rhyme or reason, it’s just one of those things that happens."Data shows fewer Australians are presenting at hospitals for stroke during the pandemic and Dr Spargo has joined other professionals in pleading for people to seek treatment even for the mildest symptoms.
"Someone who develops, for example, speech disturbance or limb disturbance and then gets better might think ‘well, it’s a bit worrying but I really don’t want to go to the hospital'," said Professor Stephen Davis, director of the Melbourne Brain Centre at Royal Melbourne Hospital.
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