Residents learn about stroke awareness and prevention at community seminar

Local residents learnt how to recognise the signs of a stroke at a stroke awareness and prevention seminar at Deeplish Community Centre on Tuesday 19 September.

The event - the first of a series of health seminars – saw talks given by Steve Taylor, chief operating officer for Rochdale Care Organisation and Dr Louise Tomkow; a geriatric medicine registrar at Salford Royal Hospital and academic clinical lecturer at the University of Manchester.

Dr Tomkow was key clinical lead for this first seminar and presented information about the causes and signs of stroke, including the ‘FAST test’ which includes looking for facial drooping, arm weakness, and speech changes, and advises ‘time to call 999 if any of these things happen.’

The session also focused on how people can all address risk factors for stroke in their everyday lives.

Mr Taylor gave an overview of care in the community and outlined the role of the Northern Care Alliance in caring for the community's health after Sohail Ahmad JP, operations manager, welcomed all participants, partners and guest speakers to the centre.

Dr Tomkow said: ‘It was a pleasure to talk to the Deeplish community about stroke. The advances in stroke medicine are exciting – there are many effective treatments. But, these treatments need to be given very quickly.

“National figures show that in the north west of England, we have high rates of stroke and don’t manage to get the best treatments to people as often as other parts of the country.

“The aim of the session was to stress the importance of coming to hospital as soon as possible if stroke is suspected. The longer someone goes without treatment, the worse the outcome will be.’

 

 

Mr Taylor said: “The Deeplish Community Centre health seminars are an example of true grass roots action being taken by a local community and its community leaders to improve the lives of its people.

“The Deeplish Community Centre health seminars are a great example of taking control and empowering citizens through education and engagement.”

The health seminar was planned in partnership with clinical professionals, Deeplish Community Centre, the Stroke Association and Living Well Rochdale.

The Stroke Association provided multilingual information about stroke awareness, and the Living Well Rochdale team provided health and blood pressure checks.

The Genes & Health research team also provided information on the Genes and Health Study which is trying to understand why people of Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage have some of the highest rates of heart disease, diabetes and poor health in the UK.

Mr Ahmad said: “We are committed to engage, empower and address health inequalities by providing high quality, interactive and informative health seminar in local neighbourhoods.

“We feel we are connected with suitable partners in making a lasting change and improving community health as early action and detection saves many lives.

“We hope people can come to the local community hub which is culturally appropriate and accessible. This is also an opportunity to have a detailed question and answer session with experts.

“We are grateful that our clinical friends have given a quality time and presentation within the local community to address many questions or concerns and provided good advice to keep up with good health and wellbeing.”

The next health awareness session will be held in January 2024 and will feature Dr Ruth Wiggans, who will talk about Covid-19.