Media

October 29 (today) is the World Stroke Day. The WeRISE Project team of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) organised health talks and game booths on October 27 (Saturday) to draw the public's attention to stroke prevention and related health issues, and to call for support to stroke families. 

Stroke is a serious cerebrovascular disease. In Hong Kong, around 25,000 people¹suffer from stoke each year, most over the age of 50. According to a government report in 2018, there are currently around 45,000² stroke patients with varying degrees of physical and cognitive impairment. The symptoms of stroke can come on suddenly without any warning. It causes profound impact not only on the patient but also on the whole family and disrupts existing family roles affecting all family members. Existing community services targeting stroke are mostly patient-centred. The support for caregivers and stroke families is limited and under-developed. With the support by the Lee Hysan Foundation, the HKU Sau Po Centre on Ageing initiated the “WeRISE: Stroke Family Empowerment Project” in partnership with five local hospitals and three non-governmental organisations. The Project adopts a capacity building approach to recruit trained care managers and young-old volunteers to form two tiers of supporters to help stroke families restore family functioning and reintegrate back to the community.

In the event on October 27, Dr Vivian Lou, Director of Sau Po Centre on Ageing and Project Investigator, introduced the support for stroke families; team member Dr. Kenneth Fong spoke on post-stroke cognitive training; Dr Karen Chan, Director of Swallowing Research Laboratory, HKU, talked about stroke and swallowing; and Dr Gary Lau, Clinical Assistant Professor of the HKU Department of Medicine, explained the causes, treatment, and prevention of stroke.

Apart from health talks, the public had a taste of the difficulties stroke survivors faced through simulation games. Caregivers attended hand-made sachets and Zentangle sessions on stress release methods. The slogan “ACT F.A.S.T” was introduced for the public to recognise different acute stroke symptoms. A medical team from HKU provided free measurement of blood pressure, atrial fibrillation screening and stroke risk assessment for the public. Participants were invited to put down notes of encouragement on blessing cards for stroke families and to work together under the motto "We Rise by Lifting Others!"

For media enquiries, please call 2831 5210, or email to ageing@hku.hk.

¹ Department of Health. Cerebrovascular Diseases. Retrieved from http://www.healthyhk.gov.hk/phisweb/en/healthy_facts/disease_burden/major_causes_death/cere_diseases/

² Census and Statistics Department. Thematic Household Survey Report No. 58. Retrieved from
https://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/B11302582015XXXXB0100.pdf