MOBILE – When it comes to knowing about stroke, there’s a lot that people should know.  “Stroke Prevention” will be the topic at the next South Alabama Regional Stroke Support Group meeting at the University of South Alabama Medical Center. 

The popular stroke support group will meet from 6 p.m.-7 p.m., Tuesday, May 17 in the USA Medical Center’s 10th floor dining room.  The stroke support group meets the third Tuesday of each month.  The guest speaker will be Dr. Gloria Varela, neurology resident in the USA College of Medicine.  Her focus will be on primary and secondary preventions of stroke and recognizing stroke symptoms. 

“As soon as any symptom suspicious of stroke occurs, it is very important to go to the emergency room for evaluation as soon as possible,” Varela said.  “The sooner the patient is treated the better the final result.  In addition to stroke symptoms, we will also discuss possible treatments available in the acute phase, to limit and possibly recover the brain damage brought on by stroke.”

Varela is a graduate of the Universidad del Valle in Colombia and performed a residency in neurology at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia, a fellowship in vascular neurology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and was a research coordinator at the Alabama Neurological Institute.  She served on the faculty at the Universidad del Valle and has been principal investigator on several clinical trials.  Varela completed an internship in Internal Medicine at USA and is currently a first-year neurology resident at the University.

In addition to Varela’s talk, the meeting will feature a healthy meal and door prizes.  Reservations are requested and can be made by e-mailing abeasley@usouthal.edu or calling 471-7752.

USA Medical Center is Mobile’s only Gold Performance Achievement Award recipient for stroke care, awarded by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.  Visit www.southalabama.edu/usamc/centers.html#stroke for more information.