City of Newcastle brings community together for World Stroke Day

Stroke prevention will be on the menu next week when City of Newcastle (CN) serves up its annual community morning tea with world-leading researchers from the Hunter.

CN is partnering with Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) to host the annual Lord Mayor’s World Stroke Day event, which provides the community with an opportunity to hear from renowned local researchers on the latest in stroke prevention and symptom awareness.

Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said CN was proud to help showcase the world-class research being undertaken locally to help raise community awareness to reduce the risk of stroke.

“Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide and the leading cause of long-term adult disability in Australia," Cr Nelmes said.

"More than 6,000 people are currently living with the effects of stroke throughout the greater Newcastle region, which is why this annual event is a vitally important opportunity to help educate the local community on the risks and preventive measures available, based on the latest research."

Hunter Research Medical Institute Professor Beata Bajorek said progress had been made in stroke prevention, in part, thanks to events like the Lord Mayor's annual morning tea.

"Our partnership with City of Newcastle is extremely important in raising awareness in the community – that awareness is the crucial first step in taking action to reduce the risk of stroke," Professor Bajorek said. “Medicines and healthier lifestyle measures can then be adopted to maintain good health and control any stroke risk factors.”

"At HMRI, we have been researching the community’s needs and preferences about medicine use and medication management – we know that many people don’t fully understand the role of medicines in preventing stroke, and sometimes they have difficulty managing medicines.

“We’re working with our community of people who have experienced stroke to see how we can support them better with their medication."

The Hunter Stroke Research Register is the only register in Australia that is dedicated to consumer engagement in research.

Hunter Research Medical Institute Consumer and Community Involvement Lead Gillian Mason said more research is needed to understand the 20 per cent of strokes that cannot be prevented with the current knowledge available.

“We know we need more research on how to help stroke survivors live their best lives. At HMRI, we work alongside people with stroke in Newcastle who are actively involved in co-designing this research,” Ms Mason said.

“Our recent work around post stroke fatigue is a great example of this. We surveyed people with stroke and they told us that fatigue is the thing they wanted help with. We’re working to understand both the biological mechanisms for fatigue and more about drug treatments that work in some cases but also look at treatments and strategies for people who the drugs don't seem to work for.

“This annual morning tea brings people together from all over the community and gives us the space and time to connect over a cup of coffee. By partnering with City of Newcastle, it shows that stroke is not just seen as a research or medical issue, it’s acknowledged as whole of community issue.”

The Lord Mayor's World Stroke Day Morning Tea will be held on Monday 30 October at 10am at Newcastle Museum.

To RSVP visit https://events.humanitix.com/lord-mayor-annual-stroke-day-morning-tea