New York State Receives $3.75 Million Grant To Enhance Stroke Prevention and Treatment
Dear Friends,
With stroke being the fifth leading cause of death and disability throughout
New York State, accounting for close to 6,900 deaths last year, I am pleased
that New York State has been awarded a $3.75 million grant, over five
years, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to enhance
the treatment and prevention of stroke.
As an elected official who suffered a stroke more than 10 years ago, and
who greatly benefited from quick intervention to make a complete recovery,
I know it is crucial that our State receive the necessary funding in order
to drastically reduce the numbers of people suffering from the long term,
devastating effects of stroke. We also need to educate the public about
prevention, as well as ways that this life-threatening condition can potentially
be reversed.
Rates of stroke mortality have declined significantly thanks to medical
advances over the past decade, but nearly 15 percent of adults hospitalized
for stroke in New York still die in the hospital or within 30 days of
admission. Additionally, nearly 16 percent of stroke patients are readmitted
due to the residual effects of the stroke, and more than 60 percent of
adults living with stroke report having a disability. These are numbers
that clearly need to be reversed.
New York was one of nine states to receive funds from the Paul Coverdell
National Acute Stroke Program for a state program and is in the midst
of a five-year project that will ultimately establish comprehensive systems
of care for stroke within five regions of the state. Since 2012, the program
has made significant improvements in elements of hospital care for acute
stroke, most notably by increasing the timely delivery of the only FDA-approved
treatment, called tissue plasminogen activator, from 41.3 percent to 61.3 percent.
By allowing the New York State Department of Health (DOH) to expand upon
its existing New York Coverdell program, the funding will supplement community
education and emergency medical services The grant will also go toward
further addressing stroke risk factors such as high blood pressure, tobacco
use, high cholesterol and poor medication adherence, and to help identify
and address gaps in care with the goal of reducing mortality, readmission
and disabilities resulting from stroke.
As always, should you have any additional questions, my district office
at 1800 Sheepshead Bay Road is here to serve you. We’re open Monday
through Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Fridays until 5 p.m.
You may reach out to me by calling (718) 743-4078 or emailing
cymbros@assembly.state.ny.us.
Steven Cymbrowitz