Stroke
Services BC Rehabilitation Collaborative:
The Journey of
a Hero
On November 14 & 15 at 8:50 in the morning, Ron opened
both sessions of Stroke Collaborative #4 with a reading from The Defiant Mind. On Monday he read
about consoling one of his fellow patients after a rehab session in Nanaimo . At the time, she
was feeling extremely depressed because her rehab was not progressing as well
as she expected: “Before the stroke I had two heart attacks,” she said.
“Compared to this they were a piece of cake.” (If you would like to read the
entire passage, turn to page 44).
On Tuesday Ron read the opening pages from Chapter 7, The
Wheelchair and the Urinal, which describes his arrival in the Rehab Unit and
his initial struggles with the male nurse who was trying to move him from a
stretcher to the bed. “I was terrified. As soon as I was standing, my entire
right side collapsed like an accordion. What was happening to me?
“Relax,” he said.
“You need to trust me. I know what I’m doing.”
Trust. This was one
of those words I would soon learn was critical to every phase of my recovery.
Trust and the need to be brave.”
Both Ron and I, and all the other stroke survivors who
participated in the sessions, (some in all four) came away heartened to know
that the over 100 enthusiastic and dedicated medical practitioners from all
parts of the province, from Terrace to the Kootenays, from Prince George to
Penticton, from Vancouver Island to the
Fraser Valley, are returning to their Health Regions determined to retain the
gains in best practices they have made to date, and committed to continuing to
improve the rehabilitation of stroke patients. They intend to keep making the
best use of the resources they have. In this endeavour they are led by a number
of very special people: Pam Ramsay, Cheryl Mitchell and Katie White.
Kudos to all the participants!
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