Senator Antonio Honors University Hospitals Parma Medical Center Stroke Team
[From left to right] System Stroke Manager Julie Fussner; System Stroke Medical Director Cathy Sila; Pam Pascal, Parma Stroke Coordinator; Senator Antonio; Christopher Dussel, UH Parma’s Chief Medical Officer and EMS Medical Director; Kristen Petro, Nurse Manager, Emergency Department, UH Parma; and Matt Cole, EMT-P, Manager, EMS Manager.
On February 16th, I was honored to be joined by University Hospitals Parma Medical Center’s Stroke Team on the floor of the Ohio Senate to recognize them for excellence in stroke patient care. UH Parma Medical Center was honored by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association for its commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment, according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines. UH Parma won the Stroke Gold Plus and Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite awards.
Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States has a stroke. The proper treatment can mean the difference between life and death. Additionally, stroke is the 5th leading cause of death and a leading cause of disability in Ohio. Unfortunately, strokes are a health concern that can happen to anyone and have touched many of our lives. This issue is personal for me, as my mother died 23 years ago from complications of a stroke. Since I have been in the legislature, I have worked to lessen such a crushing loss for Ohio families through policy measures. We passed Senate Bill 21 last year to establish statewide guidelines for the assessment, triage and transport of stroke patients to hospitals, as well as House Bill 464 of the 132nd General Assembly, which designated key hospitals based on the level of care for stroke victims.
On March 1st, I also introduced Senate Bill 305 to designate May as Ohio Stroke Awareness Month, which will be a crucial step in educating people on symptoms of stroke that may help lead to earlier detections and better health outcomes for patients. According to a recent study at the University of Kentucky Stroke Center, the acronym B.E. F.A.S.T can help people remember the signs of possible stroke to save lives. It stands for:
B- Balance- The person may have trouble with balance.
E- Eyes-They could experience blurred, double or loss of vision.
F- Face- Do you notice one side of their face drooping? Ask them to smile.
A- Arms are they experiencing weakness in one arm? If they raise both arms does one drift down?
S- Speech- Is speech slurred, unable to speak or hard to understand? Can they repeat a short sentence? Does what they are saying make sense?
T- Time to get help. If you notice any of these symptoms, call 911 to get the person to the hospital immediately.
More than two decades after losing my mother, I work every day as a state senator to honor her memory. By working together to raise awareness of stroke, I firmly believe we can save lives and make a difference in Ohio. My sincere thanks to University Hospitals and all those in the healthcare field for their work to do just that every day.
Nickie Antonio
State Senator Nickie J. Antonio (D-Lakewood) is honored to be serving in the Ohio Senate, representing District 23, and in leadership as the Assistant Minority Leader. Antonio, who was elected to the Senate in 2018, previously spent eight years in the Ohio House of Representatives, where she served District 13 and was also a member of leadership. Antonio has served as a Lakewood City Councilmember, Executive Director of an outpatient drug and alcohol treatment program for women, Adjunct Professor and as a teacher for children with special needs.
Antonio serves as Highest Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Transportation, and Joint Medicaid Oversight Committees. She also serves on the Finance; Ways and Means; Workforce and Higher Education; Rules and Reference; and Joint Legislative Ethics Committees. Additionally, she is a member of the Ohio House Democratic Women's Caucus, previously as chair, and is the State Director for the National Women Legislators’ Lobby.
She has been a dedicated champion of workers’ rights, high-quality education, local governments, equal rights for women and the LGBT community, health care for all and fighting the opioid crisis.
Antonio is recognized as a leader who reaches across the aisle to get things done. As a result, she championed Ohio’s historic adoption open records law (S.B. 23/H.B. 61) and step therapy reform law (S.B. 265/H.B. 72). Last General Assembly, Antonio passed legislation to abolish the shackling of pregnant inmates (S.B. 18/H.B. 1) and to require pharmacist education for dispensing life-saving naloxone (S.B. 59/H.B. 341). During her tenure in the Ohio legislature, Antonio has introduced the Ohio Fairness Act, which would provide civil rights protections for members of the LGBTQ community. She continues to work to remedy and end Ohio’s use of the death penalty, as well as on an array of other bills focused on improving the lives of all Ohioans. Antonio continues to be an established expert in health policy in the General Assembly.
The first in her family to graduate from college, she holds both an MPA and a B.S. Ed. from Cleveland State University, and she was named a CSU Distinguished Alumni in 2013. She is also an alumnus and Bohnett Fellow of the Kennedy School Harvard Leadership Program (2011) and has been the recipient of numerous awards as legislator of the year from various organizations during her tenure.
Her daughters, Ariel and Stacey, have made Antonio and her wife, Jean Kosmac, very proud as the girls engage in their adult life journeys.