Heart and Stroke Foundation still making a difference

by David Hinkson

As it marks its 37th year of existence, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Barbados
Inc. is continuing its mandate to educate Barbadians on the importance of maintaining healthy lifestyles, and helping them to recuperate if they fall ill as a result of heart disease or strokes.

Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, Michelle Daniel, noted that while the COVID-19 pandemic did have an impact on its operations, they found ways to work around it.

“As you will recall, when COVID-19 first surfaced it was said that older people and those with chronic non-communicable diseases were more vulnerable, so there was a fear factor among our patients.

“When the first lockdown came between March and July 2020, we recognised that despite the fears, we had to remain relevant, so we moved many of the services we offered at our clinic online.

“We used social media and other platforms to give our patients tips and some measure of reassurance, and for the children in our Yute Gym, we used social media to show their parents how to cope, presented exercise videos, and met with them in Zoom sessions every Saturday according to their age groups, as we did when they met in person.”

She said that as the pandemic seems to be abating at present, “we are seeing our physical numbers increase, but there is still some apprehension among our clients.

However, we have liaised with the Ministry of Health and Wellness to determine what we have to do to serve our clients as safely as possible under the circumstances.”

Administrative Coordinator, Greta Yearwood, added: “Prior to the pandemic we used to see between 240 and 250 patients. That number went down to the hundreds because of the pandemic, but we are slowly seeing it trend upwards again. We have actually lost six patients so far this year who contracted COVID, and although some of our older patients want to come back out, their families don’t want to take that risk.”

In terms of the patients who would have had heart ailments, Programme Coordinator for the Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit, Valerie Alleyne, who started working with the foundation during the pandemic, said: “We still managed to treat to our clients. Some came in, but during the lockdowns we did virtual programmes where nurses would call to see how the patients were faring and they also did exercises online via Zoom conferences.”

She outlined the process by which clients came to the Foundation.

“We go in four phases. Phase one is when the patient is in hospital after having had a heart ailment or stroke.

The second phase is when they are referred here; we do not have a walk-in system, doctors, whether specialists or general practitioners, have to send a referral letter.

“Our medical director, who is a cardiologist, would then examine the doctors’ requests, then do their own evaluation to determine where the patient will fit into our programmes.

“The third phase deals with the cardiac patients, while the fourth is a preventative programme where we look at what they can do to prevent recurrence of these events.”

Occupational Therapist, Jacqueline Agard-Spencer, who helps to rehabilitate stroke patients, said she has noticed a significant change in the demographics in her years of practice.

“When I first became an occupational therapist 20 years ago, most of my patients were in their 70s or 80s. But in the last few years, I have been seeing a lot more in their forties, fifties and sixties, and even as young as their thirties.”

She said: “When we hold our sessions for the stroke patients, they meet individually for the first hour and a half, and then we do a group session.

“We find that eventually they become like a family, where they help each other out with their exercises, and we celebrate each other’s milestones, such as birthdays or when patients recover to the extent that they can start driving again or return to work.”

The theme for this year’s anniversary celebration is “Healthier People for a Healthier Nation” and the CEO noted that public education would play a major role in conveying this message.

“We will be using a combination of social media and traditonal media to get our messages across. We are still working on our childhood obesity prevention programmes, and we still offer CPR classes for people of all ages, because we believe that every household and every workplace should have at least one person who can act as a first responder in an emergency.

“We are continuing our online discussions and other activities, but we have also started a monthly radio programme where we discuss health matters, and for World Heart Day later this year, we will be hosting a roundtable discussion.”