Stroke survivors provide support for recent victims
Training to begin March 3
by JILL SCHMELZER Reporter

The effects of a stroke can be life altering, changing the way a person moves, hears, sees and experiences emotions.

It can be as if a person is locked inside their own mind. How can anyone understand what the victim is experiencing?

The American Heart Association and its division, the American Stroke Association, located in Amherst, has developed a peer-to-peer visitor program, where a stroke survivor visits with a recent victim.

The early days post-stroke can be filled with grief, frustration and stress for all individuals involved, said Deborah Insalaco, a speech pathology professor at Buffalo State College.

While medical, rehabilitation and social work professionals often provide needed information and support, there is a need to identify with those who have experienced stroke either as a survivor or a family member, said Insalaco, who is involved in the development of the program.

The team, a collaboration of the stroke community, consists of professors at the University at Buffalo and Buffalo State College and representatives of the ASA.

The association started the Buffalo branch of Peer-to-Peer Visitors in 2003. Currently, stroke survivors attend a seven-week training and educational series covering the various aspects of life after stroke. Once trained, the stroke survivor teams up with a caregiver and visits the stroke patients.

Life after stroke can impair speech and the ability to translate the messages from the brain, a condition also known as aphasia.

Insalaco explained that the disability is usually associated with a stroke to the left side of the brain, effecting the right side of the brain and body. Loss of vision and the way a person sees the world is also the result of a left-hemisphere stroke.

People who suffer a right-hemisphere stroke may develop severe visual problems, lose their sense of humor and experience depression directly related to the brain damage, Insalaco said.

If the stroke occurs in the brain stem, a victim may develop swallowing problems and/or disathrea motoric weakness, which slurs speech.

This makes for a long road of rehabilitation and relearning how to do everyday things, she said. Stroke victims may also have difficulty dressing themselves, bathing, eating with utensils and going to the bathroom.

Volunteers are trained to understand the victims' concerns and talk with family members.

"It brings perspective from both aspects," Insalaco said. "It's nice for the (recent) stroke survivor to see someone walking or someone in a wheelchair out and about."

Western New York has an epidemic of stroke and heart disease, the highest incidence in New York state, the speech pathologist explained.

The program demonstrates to the victims that even though life may never be the same, it does go on and will continue, she said.

Currently, the program is utilized at the following hospitals Millard Fillmore Gates, Buffalo General Hospital, Kenmore Mercy and Buffalo Mercy South.

The peers can be a genuine and realistic source of support and information, particularly after they receive the training regarding their role in a peer relationship at the acute or rehabilitation level, according to a speech-language pathology newsletter.

The curriculum includes the following topics: Introduction to Peer Visiting, Stroke and its Effects, Disability and Rehabilitation, Making the Visit, Specific Communication Difficulties, Emotional Aspects of Well-Being and Taking Care of Yourself, and Challenges in Visiting.

The visitors work in teams of two and visit victims who have provided signed permission to hospital staff or their social worker.

Upon the initial visit, the volunteer provides the victim and his or her family with an informational packet about the American Stroke Association, a brochure on aphasia, stroke prevention, emotional concerns and care giving post stroke, the statement noted.

The next seven-week training will begin from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, March 3.

For more information or to register, call Charmaine Rech at 614-1997 or e-mail Charmaine. rech@heart.org.

e-mail: JSchmelzer@beenews.com