The “Face Arm Speech Tongue (FAST)" Test, can quickly identify stroke.
Look for any of the key stroke signs:

	call 999 "ambulance" "stroke"
Image adapted from Hope 4 Stroke by Peter Cornelis

• Facial weakness – ask the person to smile
  
• Arm weakness – ask the person to raise both arms like sleep walking.
  
• Speech disturbance – ask the person to speak a simple sentence
  
• Tongue - ask the person to poke their tongue out straight

The symptoms you're looking for are any of:

• Face - one side of face dropped ~ crooked smile
  
• Arms - can't raise both arms to same height
  
• Speech - may be garbled or slurred
  
• Tongue - goes to one side ~ can't keep straight

You don't have to be 100% sure - call 999 anyway and quickly.
Ask for an Ambulance for someone you think is having a stroke.
Early diagnosis and treatment within the first 3 hours can reduce the damage done to the brain.

We have a printable leaflet about the Signs of Stroke click here to download.