Aussie men are being encouraged to step up and put their health first, by learning the lifesaving signs of stroke and then spreading the word to their mates, colleagues and loved ones.
Starting today, Stroke Foundation's week-long 'Bloke Beside You' campaign encourages men to learn the F.A.S.T. acronym which outlines the common signs of stroke; Facial droop, inability to lift both Arms and slurred Speech.T stands for time - call an ambulance immediately.
The call to action comes after a Stroke Foundation national survey found that men's recognition levels of the F.A.S.T. signs lag significantly behind women (13 per cent worse).
Stroke Foundation Chief Executive Officer, Dr Lisa Murphy, says it's time to close the
knowledge gap.
"We want all Aussie men to learn the F.A.S.T. signs of stroke and pass on that knowledge to the bloke beside them, whether it's their dad, son, uncle or workmate, because this small but mighty acronym can save lives."
Data shows that men are nearly 50 per cent more likely to experience a stroke than women and stroke kills more Aussie men than prostate cancer. Concerningly, almost half of the men in Australia would not know they were dealing with a stroke if they saw someone displaying the main signs. That equates to roughly five million blokes.
"Stroke is a time-critical medical emergency. Learning to better recognise the signs of a stroke leads to calling an ambulance sooner; thereby reaching hospital faster and receiving the specialist emergency treatment earlier. As a result, people are less likely to die from stroke and less likely to go on to have long-term disability," Dr Murphy said.
As part of this year's Bloke Beside You campaign, survivors of stroke of all ages from across Australia have joined forces to spread the F.A.S.T. message through a video. By sharing their personal stories of stroke.
Voice of the campaign and survivor of stroke, Bill Gasiamis, says he wants others learn and share this important health message.
"Blokes tend not to have those types of discussions. They have discussions about all sorts of things like sport, politics and silly things they saw on social media, but they don't talk about health and well-being and I think that, if blokes were able to share that with each other, they would be able to improve the possibility that they'll have a good outcome should a stroke strike."
