STROKE:  Remember The 1st Three Letters... S.T.R.                                   STROKE IDENTIFICATION :       During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and  took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) and just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food.  While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.. Ingrid's husband called later, telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00pm,  Ingrid passed away.)  She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.   It only takes  a minute to read this...       A   neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours,  he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick  was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient  medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.                                          RECOGNIZING  A STROKE     Thank  God for the sense to remember the "3" steps, STR . Read and  Learn!   Sometimes  symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of  awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage  when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors  say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple  questions:                    S *            Ask the  individual to SMILE.                T  *          Ask the  person to TALK & SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (coherently,  i.e., It is sunny out today).              R*            Ask him or her  to RAISE BOTH ARMS.  NOTE   :  Another 'sign'  of a stroke is this:  Ask the person to 'stick'  out their tongue. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the  other, that is also an indication of a stroke.     If  he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks: call 911 immediately!!  and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.