On Monday 16th January 2023, the Mosaic Community Trust collaborated with Imperial College London to undertake a community awareness session on stroke.
The session was developed and hosted in collaboration with Dr Fatemeh Geranmayeh (Consultant Neurologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Clinician Scientist in the Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London) and Jenny Crow (Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist in Stroke at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and PhD student), with support from Halle Johnson and Maria Piggin (Patient Experience Research Centre (PERC), Imperial College London) and key leads across Mosaic including Habiba Haque (Head of Community Programmes) and Lena Choudhary-Salter (Mosaic’s Founder and CEO). Prior to the session a planning call was held to introduce the proposed speakers to Mosaic and agree the session aims, which were developed around concerns from the community, and to plan the session format.
The session aimed to increase awareness of:
- what a stroke is (what the different types of strokes are and what causes them)
- warning signs of a stroke
- what to do if someone is suspected of having a stroke
- stroke risk factors
- what other closely related health conditions may cause stroke (e.g. heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol)
- what is the emergency response to stroke and what treatments are available
- the impacts following stroke
- what support is available in the community for self-managing post-stroke (including what happens after a stroke and what support someone can receive from physio, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and psychology)
- approaches to stroke prevention