Owensboro Health is using May – Stroke Awareness Month – to push a simple but lifesaving message: know the signs of a stroke and act fast. The healthcare organization is highlighting the BE FAST acronym, a widely used mnemonic that helps people identify stroke symptoms and remember the critical step of calling 911 immediately.

The campaign was featured during a segment on the Daily Dish, a morning show hosted by Ange Humphrey and Ron Rhodes. While the conversation itself was not detailed in the announcement, the focus was clear: Owensboro Health wants the community to learn and use BE FAST.

What BE FAST stands for

The acronym expands to six key checks:

• B – Balance: Sudden loss of balance or coordination.
• E – Eyes: Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes, or double vision.
• F – Face: Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?
• A – Arm: Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one drift downward?
• S – Speech: Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Is their speech slurred or strange?
• T – Time: If any of these signs appear, call 911 immediately. Do not wait.

The BE FAST acronym builds on the older FAST model (Face, Arm, Speech, Time) by adding Balance and Eyes. This expanded version captures additional stroke symptoms that can occur with posterior circulation strokes, which affect the back part of the brain. Recognizing those symptoms earlier can mean faster treatment and better outcomes.

Why stroke awareness matters

Stroke is a medical emergency where every minute counts. When blood flow to part of the brain is blocked or when a blood vessel bursts, brain cells begin to die within minutes. The faster a patient receives treatment – such as clot-dissolving drugs or mechanical removal of a clot – the more brain tissue can be saved.

Stroke Awareness Month, observed each May in the United States, is a time when healthcare providers, hospitals, and advocacy groups intensify public education efforts. The month aims to teach people not only the risk factors for stroke – high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, and atrial fibrillation, among others – but also how to spot a stroke in themselves or someone else.

Owensboro Health's community role

Owensboro Health is a regional healthcare system serving western Kentucky and southern Indiana. Its facilities include a main hospital, outpatient centers, and a network of primary care and specialty clinics. The organization has made stroke care a priority, earning certification as a primary stroke center. Community outreach like the BE FAST campaign is a natural extension of that commitment.

By partnering with local media personalities like Humphrey and Rhodes on the Daily Dish, Owensboro Health aims to reach a broader audience than a typical hospital poster or brochure might. Morning radio shows and lifestyle programs have a captive, often commuter-based listenership that can absorb the information and, ideally, remember it in an emergency.

How to use BE FAST

The campaign encourages everyone to memorize the acronym. It is not enough to recognize it when you see it written down – the goal is to have it accessible in your memory during the stress of a medical crisis.

If you suspect someone is having a stroke, run through the checks quickly:

• Ask the person to stand and walk a few steps, or just to sit still and report any dizziness or loss of balance (Balance).
• Check their vision by asking if they can see you clearly or if anything looks blurry or doubled (Eyes).
• Look at their face for asymmetry (Face).
• Have them raise both arms (Arm).
• Have them repeat a simple phrase like “The sky is blue” (Speech).
• If any single check fails, call 911 (Time). Do not drive the person to the hospital yourself; paramedics can begin treatment in the ambulance.

Some people hesitate because they are not sure whether the symptom is real. The message from Owensboro Health is unambiguous: err on the side of calling. It is better to be wrong about a stroke than to wait too long.

A simple message for a serious problem

Campaigns like BE FAST are effective precisely because they reduce complexity. In an emergency, people often freeze. A short, memorable checklist gives them a concrete set of actions. Owensboro Health is betting that by putting the acronym in front of listeners during Stroke Awareness Month, more people will recognize a stroke when it happens and call for help sooner.

The Daily Dish segment may have been only one part of a broader campaign that includes social media posts, printed materials in clinics, and possibly community events. But its core is a reminder that the best treatment for stroke is prevention and preparedness – and preparedness starts with knowing BE FAST.

As Stroke Awareness Month continues, the organization urges residents to take a few minutes to learn the signs. Share the acronym with family members, especially older adults who are at higher risk. Write it down and put it on the refrigerator. What seems like a small action could make the difference between recovery and disability.

Owensboro Health’s push underscores a truth that every healthcare provider knows: the person having a stroke is often not the one who calls for help. It is a spouse, a child, a coworker, or a friend. The BE FAST campaign arms those bystanders with the knowledge they need to act in the moment.

For now, the only confirmed details are the campaign itself and the venue where it was announced. But the message is universal and worth repeating: learn BE FAST, and remember that time lost is brain lost.