SUBJECT: H. Res. 366, Designating May 2019 as “Stroke Awareness Month”
Dear Rep. Beatty,
On behalf of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and the Congress of
Neurological Surgeons (CNS), we would like to express our sincere appreciation and gratitude for
introducing H. Res. 366, designating May 2019 as “Stroke Awareness Month.” There is an urgent need
to increase education and research investment to improve outcomes for victims of stroke and improve
their quality of life. Hopefully, your resolution will have focused more attention on these crucial efforts.
As you are aware, every year, approximately 795,000 individuals in the United States have a stroke.
These devastating injuries ultimately cost society $17.5 billion in direct health care costs annually and
$16.1 billion in lost productivity for a total of $33.6 billion. In addition, stroke is the leading cause of
serious long-term disability that requires ongoing physical, occupational, speech-language, and other
therapy and surgeries.
Your resolution will encourage more support for educational efforts, services, coordination and advocacy
that will enhance public awareness of stroke. To that end, you may be interested to know that we are
promoting stroke awareness during the months of May and June through our social media platforms,
including Neurosurgery Blog: More than Just Brain Surgery (www.neurosurgeryblog.org) and our Twitter
feed (@neurosurgery), among others, using the hashtags #VascularNeurosurgery and #StrokeMonth.
We would welcome your voice to help amplify these efforts.
Again, thank you for your leadership on this issue. We look forward to working with you on this and other
important health policy issues.
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