Montana Mission: Lifeline® Stroke Public Health Education

ambulance driving down two lane highway in the mountains

What is Mission: Lifeline® Stroke?

Mission: Lifeline Stroke is a program for transforming stroke care by focusing efforts on connecting all of the components of acute stroke care into a smoothly integrated system that reinforces use of evidence-based guidelines, measures performance, identifies gaps, and engages in improvement projects at a systems level. The stroke system of care begins with community recognition and preparedness to identify stroke and continues all the way through hospital discharge, into rehabilitation and the initiation of secondary prevention. It brings together hospitals, ambulance services, non-transport medical first response agencies, emergency communications centers, emergency medical service regulatory and medical direction agencies, local government, local media, and payers to forge a proactive system of stroke care that saves and improves lives.

By learning the F.A.S.T. warning signs you just might save a life from stroke.

Letter F

Face Drooping

Ask the person to smile. Is the person's smile uneven?
letter A

Arm Weakness

Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
letter S

Speech 

Is the person unable to speak or hard to understand? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence, like "The sky is blue."
Letter t

Time to Call 9-1-1

Check the time so you'll know when the first symptoms appeared.

Have you seen us around?

The Montana Stroke Initiative is a collaboration between the Montana Department of Public Health, Cardiovascular Health Program, American Stroke Association and physicians, nurses, EMS personnel and hospital administrators throughout the state. Check out our public campaign featured across the state. 

Stroke Risk Factors

Stroke is dangerous and deadly — the No. 5 killer and a leading cause of disability in America. But you can control and treat several risk factors for stroke.