WESTERN CAPE NEWS - Seeking urgent medical assistance can prevent a stroke, while adhering to treatment and attending rehabilitation sessions can help those suffering from a stroke.
During World Stroke Week (28 October - 03 November), Tygerberg Hospital’s Speech Therapy Department is raising awareness of the high incidence of swallowing difficulties in stroke survivors.
Swallowing disorders (or dysphagia) in this population could be fatal if unnoticed or left untreated.
The Tygerberg Hospital’s Stroke Unit is currently using a notification system to alert health personnel, family and friends of stroke survivors, to the swallowing status of the patient.
According to Chief Speech Therapist, Candice Randall, the Dysphagia Robot warning system, as implemented by the Tygerberg Hospital’s Speech Therapy Department, is able to show whether a patient’s swallow is safe (green), in need of monitoring (orange), or unsafe/to be avoided (red).
“Nurses and doctors in the Stroke Unit have commented on how effective the system is, and how easy it is, even for family members to understand. This system also ensures patients receive the correct type of food, that is safe for them to swallow, and reduces unnecessary chest infections linked,” says Randall.
Strokes can be prevented through healthy lifestyle changes, but are increasingly becoming a public health challenge because they cause death and disability globally. According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa, strokes claim nearly 70 lives daily in South Africa. Strokes occur when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off, and without blood which carries oxygen, brain cells can be damaged or die. Depending on which part of the brain is affected and how quickly the person is treated, the effects of a stroke can be devastating to a person’s body, mobility, speech, as well as how they think and feel.
Tygerberg Hospital Speech Therapists (and Stellenbosch University student Speech Therapists) present weekly/monthly training to nursing staff with regards to safe swallowing screening for newly diagnosed stroke patients, as well as to other nurses within the hospital.
On 25 October, Speech Therapist Jamie De Grass-Clementson presented to outpatient nursing staff on the dangers of dysphagia in the stroke survivor population, and how to manage these patients’ swallowing issues effectively. This was well received, by over the 20 nurses who attended.
As the Western Cape Government Health joins the public in remembering stroke survivors this month, give a thought to those with swallowing difficulties in addition to other needs.
Eating and drinking are basic human rights, and make up a large part of who we are as people. When this is taken away from us through illness, the results can be extremely distressing.
'We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news'
