Governor Signs Antonio’s Stroke Legislation

Senator Nickie J. Antonio with Governor Mike DeWine and Senator Nathan Manning at the bill signing for S.B. 21.

Last week, Governor Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 21 into law; legislation I introduced in an effort to save precious minutes to possibly improve the lives of stroke patients and reduce the effects of stroke with regard to disability and possible death. This legislation requires the State Board of Emergency Medical, Fire, and Transportation Services to develop statewide guidelines for the assessment, triage, and transport to hospitals of stroke patients in partnership with Ohio’s health leaders.

Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States has a stroke[1].  The right treatment can mean the difference between life and death as stroke is the fifth leading cause of death, and a leading cause of disability in Ohio.[2] 

This issue is personal as we lost my mother to complications from stroke 21 years ago. At the time, we first called EMS when my mother was in some kind of distress, however, I had to insist that EMS transport her to the hospital, even as she was rejecting care. She kept saying “No, no, no” and referring to herself as “it”- as in “it doesn’t want to do this.” As a loved one who knew her very well, it was clear to me that something was not right, and subsequently, when she got to the hospital, she had a massive stroke. Regrettably, she ultimately died from those complications a few weeks later.  I firmly believe that if this legislation would have been in place, my mother’s outcome might have been different. We will never know.

However, what we do know is that proper and immediate stroke care in those first moments, when every second counts, is essential. In enacting SB 21, we hope lives will be saved throughout the state.

 

[1] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). Stroke Facts. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/stroke/facts.htm

[2] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/states/ohio/ohio.htm

Nickie Antonio

State Senator Nickie J. Antonio (D-Lakewood) is honored to be serving in the Ohio Senate, representing District 23, and in leadership as the Assistant Minority Leader. Antonio, who was elected to the Senate in 2018, previously spent eight years in the Ohio House of Representatives, where she served District 13 and was also a member of leadership. Antonio has served as a Lakewood City Councilmember, Executive Director of an outpatient drug and alcohol treatment program for women, Adjunct Professor and as a teacher for children with special needs.

Antonio serves as Highest Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Transportation, and Joint Medicaid Oversight Committees. She also serves on the Finance; Ways and Means; Workforce and Higher Education; Rules and Reference; and Joint Legislative Ethics Committees. Additionally, she is a member of the Ohio House Democratic Women's Caucus, previously as chair, and is the State Director for the National Women Legislators’ Lobby.

She has been a dedicated champion of workers’ rights, high-quality education, local governments, equal rights for women and the LGBT community, health care for all and fighting the opioid crisis.

Antonio is recognized as a leader who reaches across the aisle to get things done. As a result, she championed Ohio’s historic adoption open records law (S.B. 23/H.B. 61) and step therapy reform law (S.B. 265/H.B. 72). Last General Assembly, Antonio passed legislation to abolish the shackling of pregnant inmates (S.B. 18/H.B. 1) and to require pharmacist education for dispensing life-saving naloxone (S.B. 59/H.B. 341). During her tenure in the Ohio legislature, Antonio has introduced the Ohio Fairness Act, which would provide civil rights protections for members of the LGBTQ community. She continues to work to remedy and end Ohio’s use of the death penalty, as well as on an array of other bills focused on improving the lives of all Ohioans. Antonio continues to be an established expert in health policy in the General Assembly.

The first in her family to graduate from college, she holds both an MPA and a B.S. Ed. from Cleveland State University, and she was named a CSU Distinguished Alumni in 2013. She is also an alumnus and Bohnett Fellow of the Kennedy School Harvard Leadership Program (2011) and has been the recipient of numerous awards as legislator of the year from various organizations during her tenure.

Her daughters, Ariel and Stacey, have made Antonio and her wife, Jean Kosmac, very proud as the girls engage in their adult life journeys.

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Volume 17, Issue 13, Posted 3:01 PM, 07.07.2021