Festive cheer for stroke survivors
Royal Borough: Support group hosts Christmas party
Maidenhead and District Stroke Club is reaching out to stroke survivors to help reduce their social isolation – partly caused by COVID19.
The club can help ‘bridge the gap’ in services that has been left, said chairman
Neil Symons.
“Stroke rates are at an all-time high, aftercare is the most limited it’s ever been,” he said.
“Stroke patients, as with cancer patients, have often been forgotten and left behind the last 18 months.
“What was already limited aftercare has furthermore been reduced with the focus on COVID-19, sledgehammer lockdowns and closing down of other services.”
The club provides a social, mental and physical support network for its members.
It arranges activities and facilitates therapies.
Neil says the group has struggled to reach those
that need it lately, due to a lack of visitors in hospitals and a drop in people visiting in person at doctors’ surgeries.
Normally, the club would reach potential members with its posters there.
On Saturday, the club held a Christmas party for 100 stroke survivors and their carers.
The Royal Borough’s mayor and Theresa May MP, who has supported the club for two decades, attended.
Though the club’s members are exempt from maskwearing, COVID protocols were in place ‘far exceeding Government guidelines’, including testing prior to and upon arrival, and in the days after the party.
“For some members, our Christmas event was their Christmas Day,” said Neil.
“We were proud to have pressed ahead safely with the event.”
The club was also happy to have raised £1,000 in its Christmas raffle, since grants and fundraising have ‘plummeted’ in the last year.
If any readers have suffered a stroke or know someone who has, call or text 07872 144350, email maidenheadstrokeclub@ gmail.com or visit www.Maidenheadstroke club.co.uk