As World Stroke Day is observed…Strategic support given to patients at risk of detrimental complications

Oct 30, 2018 News

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Persons inflicted by stroke are at heightened risk if they are unable to swallow properly.
This was underscored yesterday by Rehabilitation Assistant, Desia Wray. According to Wray, a stroke patient unable to swallow properly will not only be subjected to poor nutrition, which by extension will affect their energy level and muscle strength, but they are also at risk of developing even more complications.
“If you can’t swallow properly then your food is going down the wrong way, and that means into the lungs, and that can lead to aspiration pneumonia. Nothing is supposed to be in the lungs other than air, so that will cause other complications…so the wellbeing of a stroke patient will be affected,” said Wray.
It was for this reason that the Rehabilitation Service Department of the Ministry of Public Health yesterday focused on the importance of proper swallowing for stroke patients when it observed World Stroke Day.
World Stroke Day is observed annually on October 29. This year, the theme was “#UpAgainAfterStroke: Support for life after stroke, and the day is one that saw health professionals emphasising the importance of support to stroke survivors and raising awareness about basic needs of stroke survivors and their care givers.
At the Rehabilitation Services Department which is accommodated at the Brickdam, Georgetown Palms Geriatric Home, yesterday for the first time efforts were made to observe World Stroke Day. The observance not only entailed the edification of patients about swallowing, but it also saw some of them being treated to a day of fun activities at the Promenade Gardens. The activities were designed to help patients deal with issues such as depression which could considerably impact the lives of patients who sometimes find it very difficult to cope with their condition.
“This is the first time we have done something like this in recognition of World Stroke Day,” said Wray, who has been attached to the Rehabilitation Service Department for one year. She has, however, been in the rehabilitation field within the public health system for the past 12 years, having undergone the Ministry of Public Health’s Rehabilitation Assistant Programme.
Since the start of this year, Wray said that the Department has been attending to 233 stroke patients [whose ages range from around 30 to 80]. A number of these patients have difficulties with swallowing. “We also see patients in the wards [at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation] but not many of them come to the Department…some go to other clinics,” Wray related.
Yesterday, the efforts of the team at the Rehabilitation Department was boosted by support from Rehabilitation Department of the Georgetown Public Hospital, in the person of Aloma Fredricks, and four of the five students who represent the inaugural batch of Speech Therapy programme at the University of Guyana. The Speech Therapy batch is set to graduate next month, after which they will be officially plugged into the health system to advance the speech therapy agenda of the Public Health Ministry.
Although a number of people have already been taking advantage of the rehabilitation services already being offered, Wray informed that there are some people who are ignorant about their condition and therefore opt to utilise home remedies instead of seeking the recommended care. “They delay getting attention because they believe if they get a rub down by someone they will be better, not really understanding that they need a therapeutic intervention in the form of an exercise or treatment,” Wray shared. With therapeutic care, the Rehabilitation Assistant said that patients stand a better chance of being rehabilitated to a point where they can become independent and resume activities including dressing, bathing and even preparing meals for themselves. For those who would have lost their speech, Speech therapy is an important solution.
“Once you have a stroke a whole lot of areas are affected, and this Department deals with all of those areas. When you come we do an assessment, but firstly you have to be referred by a medical professional and we accept patients from private and public institutions too,” said Wray, who noted that evaluation of patients is usually done on Fridays. Once evaluated, patients with stroke and other conditions which require rehabilitation are then assigned a therapist who designates therapy days.
However, as part of the observance yesterday, the focus was on stroke patients, where those with swallowing challenges were invited to the special screening session as part of the observance of World Stroke Day 2018.

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