When It's Just You In an Emergency

"Mom!" you yell down the stairs. "Where's my math book? I can't find it and the bus is coming! Please help me ... it's an emergency!"

It is kind of an emergency with the bus coming and all, but what about a medical emergency? That kind of emergency is usually more serious. If you don't have your math book or miss the bus, that would be bad. But a medical emergency means someone needs care from a doctor right away. Let's find out the right thing to do.

Quick Thinking: What Would You Do?

Liz and her little brother Jamie are out for a walk. Jamie decides to race ahead down a very steep hill. He's running pretty fast when he suddenly trips. Over and over he falls, rolling down the hill at high speed until he's sprawled out on the sidewalk at the bottom.

Liz rushes to her brother's side, hoping that he's OK. Then she sees some blood on the pavement. And Jamie isn't moving at all. What should she do? First things first: Liz should look around for a grown-up and call him or her to help right away. If no one is close by, she should make a phone call either on a cell phone or from the closest phone.

Calling for help is the most important thing a kid can do in an emergency.

If you're going to be the one making the emergency phone call, here's what to do:

• Take a deep breath to calm down a little.
• Call 911.
• Tell the operator there's an emergency.
• Say your name and where you are (the exact address if you know it).
• Explain what happened and how many people are hurt. (The operator will need all the information you can provide, so give as many details as you can.)
• Follow all of the operator's instructions carefully.
• Stay on the line until the operator says it's OK to hang up.

After calling for help, your first thought might be to rush over to the person who's injured. But stop and look before you do. Make sure the scene is safe. If it's not, wait in a safe spot until a grown-up or an emergency team arrives.

If the scene is safe, and as soon as Liz is sure someone is calling 911 — or she has called it herself — she could return to her brother and wait until help arrives. (She shouldn't move her brother at all because he could have a neck or other bone injury. Moving someone who has that sort of injury can make it much worse.) She can help him feel calm by being calm herself.

In Case of Emergency

The best way to handle an emergency is to be prepared for one. Knowing what to do ahead of time can help you stay in control so that you can help. Here are some suggestions on how to be ready to help in an emergency:

• When you're outdoors, make sure you're in an area where you can call out for help even if you don't have a phone with you.
• Know how to dial 911 or your local emergency number (in most areas in the United States, it's 911).
• If you have one, carry a cell phone or know how to use your parent's cell phone.
• Learn first aid. Look for basic first-aid classes with your local Red Cross, the YMCA or YWCA, the Boy or Girl Scouts, 4-H clubs, your local hospital, and other organizations. Or ask your school nurse to have a first-aid class just for students in your school.

It's scary to think about someone getting hurt. But the truth is that accidents can and do happen. They happen when people are being careless and careful. Sometimes, kids are the ones who get hurt. Sometimes, grown-ups get hurt. Either way, it's good to know what to do if someone needs emergency medical help. Even though you're a kid, you can make a big difference by doing the right thing.

Stroke

A stroke is kind of a strange word for a health problem. You probably think of a stroke as something good. You might stroke your dog's fur. Or maybe someone has told you: "That's a stroke of good luck."

But if someone has a stroke, it means something has stopped the normal blood flow to the brain. Strokes usually happen to older people, like grandparents. Kids don't typically get them.

Blood is circulating through your body all the time in tubes calledarteries and veins. Usually, these blood vessels work fine and there's no problem. That's important because blood carries oxygen to all the cells in your body. And without oxygen, the cells would die.

A stroke can happen if something keeps the blood from flowing as it should. A person might have a clogged blood vessel, so the blood can't get through. Or a blood vessel may burst and a part of the brain is suddenly flooded with blood. Either way, with a stroke, brain cells die because they don't get the oxygen they need.

There are two main types of strokes:

• Ischemic (say: iss-kee-mik) strokes happen when a blood vessel going to the brain becomes blocked, and the blood can't get where it's supposed to be. This type of stroke is the most common. A blood clot — a clump of blood that sticks together — is usually to blame for ischemic strokes. They can also happen when arteries become narrow and clogged with plaque. Plaque is a mix of cholesterol and other fatty stuff that sticks to the walls of blood vessels.
• Hemorrhagic (say: heh-muh-rah-jik) strokes happen when a weak or thin blood vessel bursts and the blood spills out, killing brain cells and affecting how the brain works. High blood pressure can weaken the walls of vessels and make a hemorrhagic stroke much more likely.

There are also "mini strokes" called transient ischemic attacks (TIAs). These are not full-blown stokes because the blood flow is only cut off for a short amount of time and they don't cause the same kind of damage right away; however, they are a warning sign that something is wrong and that a real stroke might be on its way.

Strokes are serious. People who have strokes can get really sick, have brain damage, or die. But many people recover from strokes, especially if they know the warning signs and can get help quickly.

What Happens During a Stroke?

A stroke usually happens suddenly, and a person having a stroke has several of these signs:

• numbness or weakness on one side of the body
• a very bad headache
• dizziness
• loss of balance or coordination
• trouble talking or understanding what people are saying
• trouble seeing

Anyone who has even one of these symptoms should get to the hospital right away. The first thing a doctor will do is make sure the person is not in immediate danger, like making sure he or she can breathe.

Next, the doctor will want to figure out what's causing this problem. The doctor can run tests on the heart and brain.

If it looks like a stroke, doctors usually get a CT scan, a special kind of X-ray of the brain. This test can show the doctor what part of the brain has been affected and how big the stroke is.

How Does a Person Get Better?

Recovering from a stroke can happen quickly or can take a long time. How soon someone gets better depends on how bad the stroke was and how healthy the person was before the stroke.

People who have had a stroke may need medicine or surgery. Later, they may need rehabilitation (say: ree-huh-bih-luh-tay-shun). Treatment for a stroke will depend on what caused it.

Medicine: For a stroke caused by a clogged blood vessel (ischemic), the doctor might give the person medicine that thins the blood and keeps it from clotting too much. There's even "clot-busting" medicine that can break up a blood clot. This medicine is given through an IV and works best if it is given very quickly.

Surgery: Doctors may do surgery to open up a clogged blood vessel to help prevent another stroke later on. If a person has had a hemorrhagic stroke, surgery may be needed to remove blood clots or fix weak blood vessels.

Rehabilitation: Rehabilitation, or rehab, is when people to relearn basic things, like walking, talking, writing, or taking care of themselves. They may need speech therapy, physical therapy, or occupational therapy.

If Someone You Love Has a Stroke

It can be scary if someone you care about has a stroke. But strokes can be big or small. A small one may not cause too much damage and the person may get back to normal quickly.

But a major stroke can cause big problems with important stuff, like walking and talking. With a major stroke, someone may spend a lot of time in the hospital. Once the person is home, he or she may need special care, therapy, medicine, and a lot of doctor visits. In some cases, the person may have lasting problems with important skills, like walking or talking.

But often, people are able to relearn the important skills they lost. It may take time and patience, though. So if you know someone who has had a stroke, encourage him or her to keep on doing the hard work necessary to regain these skills.

It's also important for you to talk with someone if you have questions or worries about someone who has had a stroke. You might feel sad, frustrated, or angry that this happened to someone you love, especially if this person isn't able to do stuff with you like before.

It's also normal for people who have had a stroke to feel frustrated and upset, especially if they need to re-learn something as basic as feeding themselves. It can make a person feel less independent.

Preventing Strokes

Some strokes can be prevented in adults. Here are some stroke-prevention tips for grown-ups:

• Don't smoke.
• Don't drink too much alcohol.
• Eat healthy and be active. This can help lower cholesterol.
• Check blood pressure. High blood pressure is a major cause of stroke.
• Don't ignore problems like heart disease, high cholesterol, ordiabetes.

What can kids do? Live healthy from an early age. Don't start smoking, eat healthy, and be an active kid!

What Kids Say About Their Health

You've probably heard the word "literacy" (say: lit-er-eh-see). It's often used when people are talking about being able to read. If you're reading this, then you're literate!

But there's another kind of literacy called health literacy. Health literacy means that you can understand information about your health, so you know how to take care of yourself and make good decisions.

If you have a health condition, such as asthma, being health literate means that you know what asthma is and you know how to treat it. It means you have gone to a trustworthy source, like your doctor, and received information that you understood. And now, if you have any breathing troubles, you know that you take a certain number of puffs from your inhaler. You also know when to call the doctor or go to the emergency department for more serious problems.

Steps to Health Literacy

It's important for both kids and adults to be health literate. Health literacy can be a serious problem for people who are older or who don't speak English. They may get health information or instructions from their doctor that they don't understand. As a result, they may not know how much medicine to take or how to best take care of their illness.

To be health literate, a person must:

• know where to get health information
• understand the health information he or she finds
• apply the information to make good decisions about health

Maybe you know a person who can't read well. If so, you might be able to help by reading instructions to him or her. But sometimes it's not easy to be health literate, even if you can read and understand English. Some sources, such as friends or a TV show, might give you wrong information. Other times, the source is good, such as a doctor, but the information given is confusing or unclear. You walk away thinking, "Huh? What am I supposed to do?"

But many doctors, nurses, and other health professionals are working to make health information easier to understand. It makes sense because when people get good health information and understand it, they can use it in their lives and be healthier.

KidsHealth Asked Kids

KidsHealth wanted to find out more about health literacy among kids, so we asked 1,178 boys and girls a bunch of questions about their health and how they get health information. Here's what they said:

Lots of kids say they would turn to trusted people if they had an important health question.

• 31% would ask a parent
• 29% would ask a doctor or nurse
• 21% would ask a teacher

Other kids said "somewhere else" or the Internet. Kids said they would not trust their friends or TV for health information. About three quarters of the kids said those two sources give the most wrong information about health.

How do you know if you have a good source for health info? You want the person, book, or Internet site to be reliable and likely to give you correct information. You might ask yourself: How does this person know about health? If a kid at school tells you the best thing for a cold is pickle juice, you know that's not a trustworthy source. The kid didn't go to medical school and is probably just pulling your leg!

But if your doctor or nurse tells you that rest and drinking fluids are good for a cold, you can believe it's true. They went to school to learn about health and it's their job to take care of kids.

Do You Understand?

In addition to having a good source who has correct information, you need to understand what that source is saying. Maybe it's your mom talking to you about eating healthy food or something you read on the Internet about how much exercise kids need. If you don't get what the person is saying, or has written, you don't know what to do next.

About 37%, or less than half of all kids, said health information was very easy to understand. Another 41% said it was sort of easy to understand. About 22% said it was sort of hard or very hard to understand.

It's not surprising that health information is sometimes confusing. It's confusing even for grown-ups. Health and the body are complicated scientific subjects. What can do if you get health information, but you don't understand it? Ask questions. Ask about websites or books where you could find more information.

You can ask questions at the doctor's office, too. Sometimes you need to be quiet — like when the doctor is listening to your lungs with the stethoscope. But there are also usually times during an appointment when you can ask questions like, "Hey, what are you looking for in my ear?"

Sometimes you don't have questions until later. That's OK. You could write them down for next time or ask your parents to help you find the answers.

The same goes for health class. If you don't understand what the teacher is saying, ask questions. If you're embarrassed about the question, write it down or ask it after class. Your health teacher wants you to understand so you can take good care of yourself. Asking questions and learning more is a great way for kids to take responsibility for their health.

Kids Want to Know

Speaking of taking care of yourself, almost 80% of kids say they are very interested or sort of interested in learning about health. And 80% of kids also knew that what they do as kids can affect how healthy they will be as adults. For instance, just by eating a healthy diet and being active, kids can help maintain a healthyweight. Kids who grow up at a healthy weight are less likely to be overweight as adults.

Doing something like wearing a bike helmet also can make a big difference. They help kids avoid head injuries that could hurt their brains. And when a kid's brain gets injured, it can affect thinking, walking, and other important body functions.

We also asked kids on how well they follow what they are taught about health. About 66% said they tried to follow health advice all the time or most of the time. About 20% said they follow the advice sometimes. That's a lot of kids who are trying to do the right thing. But about 15% of kids said they followed health advice hardly ever or never.

Adults also have trouble following the health advice they get. It can be tough to exercise after a long day at work. It's hard for kids, too, to eat fruits and vegetables or to remember a bike helmet every time. But the more kids learn about health and start taking these steps on their own, the healthier kids will be. So tell your friends, tell your parents: Let's all get health literate!

What's a KidsPoll?

The group that took this KidsPoll included an almost equal number of boys and girls who were between 9 and 13 years old. They answered the questions on handheld data devices while visiting these health education centers and children's museums:

• Byrnes Health Education Center — York, Pennsylvania
• Children's Health Education Center — Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Crown Center for Health Education — Hinsdale, Illinois
• CDC Global Health Odyssey Museum — Atlanta, Georgia
• Health Exploration Station — Canton, Michigan
• HealthSpace, Cleveland — Cleveland, Ohio
• HealthWorks! Kids Museum — South Bend, Indiana
• Health World Children's Museum — Barrington, Illinois
• Lilly Health Education Center — Indianapolis, Indiana
• Poe Center for Health Education — Raleigh, North Carolina
• Weller Health Education Center — Easton, Pennsylvania

A poll, like the KidsPoll, asks people a list of questions. Then researchers compile all the answers and look at the way the group answered. They calculate how many — or what percentage — answered "yes" to this question and "no" to that one. Polls give us clues about how most people — not just the ones who answered the poll questions — feel about certain issues.

We'll be conducting more KidsPolls in the future to find out what kids say — maybe you'll be part of one!