As the director of the Stroke Center at Harlem Hospital, the founder of the Hip-Hop Public Health Education Center , and a neurologist, Dr. Olajide Williams, MD, MS is dedicated to teaching people, especially children, about stroke. He uses hip-hop as a way to educate school-aged children, hoping that they'll pass the information down to their parents.

Q: What is the Hip Hop Stroke program?

A: The Hip Hop Stroke program developed in partnership with the National Stroke Association focuses on teaching kids the signs and symptoms of stroke and what to do when someone that they know is having a stroke. It also gives children basic instructions on how to prevent stroke, such as eating healthy, exercising, and not smoking. The goals of the Hip Hop Stroke program are: to increase kids' ability to recognize stroke signs and symptoms; and to encourage people to act quickly in the event of stroke happens so that treatment can be given and lives can be saved.

Q: Why did you choose to teach kids, instead of adults, about stroke?

A: Adults are often very difficult to reach. Many people between the ages of 25 and 55 are working multiple jobs, trying to balance family life with work, or just trying to put food on the table. Because of this, we have found that the easiest way to reach these adults is through their children. We are bringing stroke knowledge into the home by turning people's children into teachers.

Children are also important people to educate because they can serve as "first responders" in their homes. A "first responder" is the first person to react when someone is having an emergency, such as a stroke or a heart attack, and needs help. The "first responder" knows how to help or how to find outside help.

Many kids who have participated in our program have acted as "first responders" for adults. One child was able to recognize that his grandmother was having a stroke; he called the 9-1-1 emergency number and got his grandmother to the hospital in time for treatment. Because of our program, he knew that calling 9-1-1 and getting his grandma to the hospital as soon as possible was the right thing to do, instead of calling a neighbor or someone else to help.

Q: Do you think that parents will actually listen to their children?

A: I have two kids of my own: a 10 year old and a six year old. They make me listen to them! Children have that effect on parents. Kids come home from school and they can make us do things, like help them practice their lines for a play or other forms of homework. Our children can even help us stop unhealthy behaviors.

For example, I had a patient who had been smoking for ten years. I had been trying to get this patient to quit smoking for years without any success. All of a sudden her grandson learns that smoking can kill you and he begins harassing my patient, crying and saying "Nana I don't want you to die! You're gonna die if you keep smoking! It's bad, it's really bad." It turns out after all that time; all it took was a little 8-year-old to get my patient to stop smoking. Children, especially young children, have great power and influence over their parents and caregivers and there's no reason why we shouldn't take advantage of this to teach people about health.

See a video here, created by Dr. Williams, about a child who teaches his father about healthy living: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LzPOhpJUNo.

To see more videos like this one, please visit http://hiphoppublichealth.org/ 

Read more from Dr. Williams by clicking the links below:

• Using hip hop to teach kids about stroke
•  Hip Hop H.E.A.L.S (Healthy Eating and Living in Schools)
• Stroke Diaries

Harlem Word is a series of interviews with Harlem health experts, written by HHPC and reviewed by our Health Advisory Board