You Canadians will need to attend the June 9-10 meeting Advances in Stroke Recovery meeting in Ottawa. Because if you don't bring up the neuronal cascade of death and other research already out there they will not attempt to tackle the difficult task of resolving stroke disability.
Or these 11 Stroke risk reduction ideas?
Or these 177 hyperacute possibilities needing research?
Or these 31 hyperacute possibilities I'm going to insist my doctor give me the first week.
The latest here:
Stroke survivors need better care
Stroke is a disease that speaks softly.
From the window of a suburban bungalow to the wheelchair in a long-term care facility to the bench at a local shopping mall.
It rarely rallies or marches or cries out for attention.
But it should.
Three hundred and ten thousand Canadians live with the effects of stroke. Many more will join their ranks when a clot suddenly cuts off blood supply to part of the brain or when a weakened blood vessel suddenly ruptures.
Children, teens, young mothers, business owners, grandparents. There are 50,000 strokes in Canada every year.
The result may be an immobile arm or a clenched fist or a weakened leg. Loss of the ability to form words, to read or write. Uncontrollable tears. Uncontrollable laughter. Anger. Fear. Depression. Dementia.
According to the 2011 report The Quality of Stroke Care in Canada, almost 60 per cent of stroke patients return home when discharged from acute hospital care — the vast majority with limited rehabilitation therapy.
Without adequate treatment, their mobility and gait diminish, leading to a higher risk of falls and loss of autonomy.
For those with impaired communication skills or cognition, there is despair and isolation.
For the most part, provincial governments have put in place needed improvements to emergency stroke services. But after those early days — and a mistaken belief that recovery is limited to the first six to eight weeks post-stroke — too often the bottom falls out.
In a recent issue of the The International Journal of Stroke, Canadian physician and stroke researcher Dr. Robert Teasell of Western University and colleagues state that “only 5-9% of stroke patients discharged home from acute care received a referral to outpatient rehabilitation, and patients referred to in-home rehabilitation services receive only three to nine total rehabilitation visits on average.”
They argue “stroke survivors feel abandoned by the health-care system” and call for “greater emphasis on rehabilitation and neurological recovery.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Research conducted by the Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery, a joint initiative of the Heart and Stroke Foundation and Canada’s leading stroke recovery research centres, has shown:
Rehabilitation therapy needs to begin as soon as possible after stroke; recovery can continue for months and years; targeted exercise programs in combination with other therapies can help re-map the brain and restore lost function; and, greater intensity of therapy is required to restore what has been lost after stroke.
As Dr. Teasell and others argue, we cannot ignore the vast majority of people living many years with stroke-related impairments.
So what can be done?
People living with stroke need to raise their voices. To call out for improved services. To question why they are not getting enough therapy, especially compared to other diseases. To become engaged in their local stroke recovery associations and support groups. To urge their communities to develop action plans to deliver more research-proven practices. To support science that will find new and better ways to repair the brain and restore lives.
The HSF Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery has mobilized scientists across Canada, along with leading research partners — Sunnybrook Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto Rehab, the University of Ottawa, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and Memorial University — to accelerate discovery and develop new approaches.
And on June 9 and 10, Dr. Teasell and I will co-chair the first Advances in Stroke Recovery meeting in Ottawa to bring together scientists, clinicians, patients and communities to look at the future of stroke recovery, the state of the science and the potential for change.
We hope you will join us.
Neuroscientist Dr. Dale Corbett is scientific director and CEO of the HSF Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery and a professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa.
From the window of a suburban bungalow to the wheelchair in a long-term care facility to the bench at a local shopping mall.
It rarely rallies or marches or cries out for attention.
But it should.
Three hundred and ten thousand Canadians live with the effects of stroke. Many more will join their ranks when a clot suddenly cuts off blood supply to part of the brain or when a weakened blood vessel suddenly ruptures.
Children, teens, young mothers, business owners, grandparents. There are 50,000 strokes in Canada every year.
The result may be an immobile arm or a clenched fist or a weakened leg. Loss of the ability to form words, to read or write. Uncontrollable tears. Uncontrollable laughter. Anger. Fear. Depression. Dementia.
According to the 2011 report The Quality of Stroke Care in Canada, almost 60 per cent of stroke patients return home when discharged from acute hospital care — the vast majority with limited rehabilitation therapy.
Without adequate treatment, their mobility and gait diminish, leading to a higher risk of falls and loss of autonomy.
For those with impaired communication skills or cognition, there is despair and isolation.
For the most part, provincial governments have put in place needed improvements to emergency stroke services. But after those early days — and a mistaken belief that recovery is limited to the first six to eight weeks post-stroke — too often the bottom falls out.
In a recent issue of the The International Journal of Stroke, Canadian physician and stroke researcher Dr. Robert Teasell of Western University and colleagues state that “only 5-9% of stroke patients discharged home from acute care received a referral to outpatient rehabilitation, and patients referred to in-home rehabilitation services receive only three to nine total rehabilitation visits on average.”
They argue “stroke survivors feel abandoned by the health-care system” and call for “greater emphasis on rehabilitation and neurological recovery.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Research conducted by the Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery, a joint initiative of the Heart and Stroke Foundation and Canada’s leading stroke recovery research centres, has shown:
Rehabilitation therapy needs to begin as soon as possible after stroke; recovery can continue for months and years; targeted exercise programs in combination with other therapies can help re-map the brain and restore lost function; and, greater intensity of therapy is required to restore what has been lost after stroke.
As Dr. Teasell and others argue, we cannot ignore the vast majority of people living many years with stroke-related impairments.
So what can be done?
People living with stroke need to raise their voices. To call out for improved services. To question why they are not getting enough therapy, especially compared to other diseases. To become engaged in their local stroke recovery associations and support groups. To urge their communities to develop action plans to deliver more research-proven practices. To support science that will find new and better ways to repair the brain and restore lives.
The HSF Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery has mobilized scientists across Canada, along with leading research partners — Sunnybrook Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto Rehab, the University of Ottawa, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and Memorial University — to accelerate discovery and develop new approaches.
And on June 9 and 10, Dr. Teasell and I will co-chair the first Advances in Stroke Recovery meeting in Ottawa to bring together scientists, clinicians, patients and communities to look at the future of stroke recovery, the state of the science and the potential for change.
We hope you will join us.
Neuroscientist Dr. Dale Corbett is scientific director and CEO of the HSF Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery and a professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa.
Seriously? Wow, I'll try like hell to be there.
ReplyDeleteDean haha oops I left that comment without clicking on the link and I thought it meant YOU were co-chairing the event. You know what, I still wanna go and hear what they have to say and Ottawa is supposed to be beautiful. I think you should try to go too, we need to hear what they say.
ReplyDeleteDean haha oops I left that comment without clicking the link and I thought YOU were co-chairing the event. I still wanna go and hear what they have to say and Ottawa is supposed to be beautiful. I think you should try to go too. We need to hear what they say.
ReplyDelete