Moynihan addresses New Canaan Town Council 3 days after stroke
NEW CANAAN — First Selectman Kevin Moynihan addressed Town Council in person Wednesday in his first public appearance after having a stroke the prior weekend. Aside from a slight loss of vision, “I feel 100 percent” and “feel great,” he said.
“Sunday morning, I woke up and had a stroke,” Moynihan said. “It was quite an experience and I'm glad to be here.”
While he initially classified his experience as ‘minor,' he admitted that a neurologist at Stamford Hospital told him that “there are no minor strokes.”
However, people can have “minor results” from a stroke and “I was very fortunate to have the EMS, our local EMS, show up within 10 minutes,” he said. EMS workers Wendy Fog and Michelle Bushman “diagnosed that I was having a stroke.”
He said he had arrived at the hospital in “40 minutes or so” and “within 90 minutes, I was given what I now know is tPA, which is essential to reverse and really negate the effects of the stroke,” the first selectman said. Tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, is a clot busting medicine.
Patients who get to the hospital within three hours of the first symptoms of an ischemic stroke and receive tPA “are more likely to recover fully or have less disability than patients who do not receive the drug,” according to the
CDC. “Patients treated with tPA are also less likely to need long-term care in a nursing home,”
“I learned a lot about strokes,” he said. Moynihan added that the doctors didn't know “where this blood clot originated,” but pondered if it could have been COVID related as he contracted the illness five weeks ago.
But “we're going to figure that out, so that I won't do this again,” he said.
He reminded Town Council members that it is National Volunteer Week, and he said he wanted to make “a public tribute” to EMS workers. The first selectman lauded the New Canaan Volunteer Ambulance Corps, which Moynihan pointed out commit 20 hours a week, for their willingness “to show up and save our families. It is just amazing,” he said.
Moynihan then went on to fulfill his typical first selectman duties by updating Town Council on a myriad of topics, including summarizing the latest news on COVID-19, discussing capital projects, relaying plans to pave roads, updates to Town Hall and a letter of intent for the Powerhouse Theater.
His stroke was first publicaly acknowledged when Selectman Nick Williams disclosed it Tuesday morning at the Board of Selectmen meeting.
Moynihan, 72, has served as the town's first selectman since 2017. Prior to that, he was elected to a four-year term on the
Town Council in November 2013.
He remained in charge and was actively working while in the hospital, “emailing and calling, just like he is when he is out of town,” Administrative Officer Tucker Murphy told Hearst Tuesday.
In the event that the first selectman was unable to carry out his duties, the acting Town Council chairman,
a position occupied currently by Steve Karl, would have stepped up per the town charter, Murphy explained.
“Unfortunately, many stroke victims don't get to the hospital in time for tPA treatment. This is why it's so important to recognize the signs and symptoms of stroke right away and call 911,” according to information from the CDC.