The PEI Heart and Stroke Foundation is carrying on a methodical public education and lobbying campaign for the stroke treatment unit in Charlottetown.
There is a letter a month in the papers which is good because it raises public awareness.
Hopefully their campaign will have some success but probably at the risk of other Islanders with disabilities being left in the cold. For instance, seniors who have a disability due to stroke are and will continue to be outside the Disability Support Program which provides useful assistive devices and support services outside the Charlottetown area.
The Foundation should ensure that it’s proposals and services do not exclude the thousands of stroke victims on PEI who are disabled. What is the Heart and Stroke’s position on including all Islanders who are stroke victims in the DSP?
Stroke care on P.E.I. not up to standard yet, says Heart and Stroke Foundation of P.E.I. chief
JIM DAY
The Guardian
Prince Edward Island remains, in many instances, an unnecessarily debilitating and even deadly place to have a stroke, says the chief executive director of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of P.E.I.
“Stroke is the third leading cause of death in this country and the standards of stroke care are deplorable,” said Charlotte Comrie.
“You really want to hope you have a heart attack or cancer on P.E.I. You don’t want a stroke.”
Comrie says roughly 340 Islanders have a stroke each year. Of those, about 15 per cent die, 25 per cent endure minor disabilities, while 50 per cent are left with moderate to severe disabilities.
The implementation of an acute care stroke unit would greatly improve that picture, she says. Less people would die and the number of serious disabilities would drop.
Such a centre would result in more stroke survivors being able to stay in their own homes, rather than being placed in a nursing home.
And more family members and spouses could remain in the workplace rather than taking on the demanding, full-time role of caregiver.
One of the few remaining recommendations from the P.E.I. Integrated Stroke Strategy released in August 2006 yet to be acted upon is a call for an acute-care stroke unit in the province.
The Department of Health is submitting a proposal for a stroke unit to be developed at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital by government in the spring, Kelley Rayner, director for hospital services with QEH.
Comrie would like to see funding for such a proposal in the 2009 provincial budget.
“So we (Heart and Stroke Foundation of P.E.I.) is strongly encouraging the government to do that,” she said.
“First of all you decrease moderate to severe disabilities leading to death or dependency by 30 per cent. So the quality of the life of your stroke survivors goes way up.”
Comrie says only one third of stroke survivors rate their quality of life as good. She believes most people would find that unacceptable.
She says several drugs that are used to treat stroke survivors that are covered in other provinces are not covered here.
Comrie also considers home care services in the province to be limited and inadequate.
“When we look at people with moderate to severe disabilities, a number of stroke survivors are not receiving the services in home that they need both for home care and for rehabilitation,” she said.
Leave a Reply