PRESIDENT’S
REPORT
WELCOME BACK! The Stroke Recovery Association of Edmonton’s Executive and Board of
Directors hope each of you had a wonderful, safe and FUN long weekend working
in your yards, gardening, traveling, camping and enjoying the weather... until
the snow fell!? It’s
Alberta… anything can happen… rain, snow
& sometimes even sunshine!?
Being June is
“Stroke Awareness” month we are so pleased to have Dr. Arthur Prochazka,
Professor in Neuroscience at the University
of Alberta as our Guest
Speaker for our Monday, May 25th meeting! Dr. Prochazka will be speaking on “Improving
Arm and Hand Function After Stroke”.
Every day about 100 Canadians have a cardiovascular accident (CVA,
stroke) or head trauma which leads to weakness or paralysis of one side of the
body. There are about 180,000 stroke
survivors in Canada
who find it hard or impossible to perform activities of daily life because of
poor hand function. A few years ago rehabilitation hospitals provided
rehabilitation therapy for up to 4 months after a stroke. Now there is only enough money for 3 or 4 weeks.
This has forced therapists to focus on coping strategies rather than on trying
to improve hand function.
Dr. Prochazka’s
presentation will review some new ways of dealing with this problem: constraint
induced therapy, robotic therapy, functional electrical stimulation and
tele-rehabilitation. Dr. Prochazka’s
group at the University
of Alberta has developed
the first system in the world that allows people to perform exercises on a
special workstation in their own homes, supervised by a therapist over a 2-way
television link. A new type of
electrical stimulator that is built into a wristlet assists in opening the hand
and grasping. A project involving people who had their stroke within the last 6
months is about to start. The
workstation and stimulator will be demonstrated during the presentation.
Please
plan to attend this Monday, May 25th meeting… open
to all Stroke Survivors, their Caregivers and all Medical Professionals. The SRA – Edmonton
meetings are held at the Glenrose
Rehabilitation
Hospital,
lower level, Conference Room A (follow the signs) 6:30 pm refreshments &
7:00 pm meeting! Hope to see you
there!
Friendly
reminder: Monday, June 8th is our Annual SRA Picnic from 5 pm to 8
pm, to be held at the Lounge in the A.C.T. Aquatic and Recreation
Centre in Rundle
Park… please note this change…
because our usual Campsite #4 is under renovations. It is a pot luck event! You
will have until Monday, June 1st to call Mrs. Joan McCreight
(780) 484-2734 or our SRA answering machine (780) 485-3052 to let us know if
you plan to attend, how many guests you plan to bring and to let us know what
you will be bringing (eg. salad, dessert, munchies or refreshments)! All the hotdog buns, wieners, condiments,
etc. will be provided. It’s a FUN time
and it will be our last meeting until Monday, September 28th! Rain or Shine – We hope to see you
there!
Membership
fees: SRA – Edmonton membership fees are very reasonable
at $10.00 for a single person or $15.00 for a family, for the year (that is
from September to August)! If you are a
paid member – thank you for your “financial support” to our membership! If you have not paid yet – PLEASE see Fred or
Alice Chow at our meeting and they will gladly take your membership money and
get you paid-up and in “good standing”!
We also welcome charitable donations and a tax receipt will be issued to
you for them. We are a “non-profit”
organization but we do have some expenses that need to be paid.
If you have any
other ideas and or topics you would like to hear discussed at our meetings, please
let us know by leaving a message on our SRA – Edmonton phone number (780) 485-3052 and
someone will get back to you. We also
have a website at www.sraedmonton.org.
Have a Wonderful,
Safe & FUN Summer… Gladys Marie Magega, President of the SRA -
Edmonton
