Proios H1, Loutrari A1,4, Tsakpounidou K1, Baskini M1, Uys W2, Van der Merwe J3,
1 Department of Educational and Social Policy, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece
2 Lucan Visuals, South Africa
3 Angels Initiative, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH
4 Aston University, UK
Growing old comes with wisdom and confidence, but several challenges also come into play. Evidence shows that old age is associated with greater stroke risk (Τeh et al., 2018). But there is always a bright side: old people very often get to enjoy the warm and rejuvenating company of young children. Research shows that during the last decades, the time grandparents spend looking after their grandchildren has substantially increased (Pulgaron et al., 2016). Sharing the process of growing up every step of the way is admirable and heroic. Grandparents are real heroes of the everyday, but even heroes are not invincible. Heroes need their own heroes, so children can become heroes themselves and save the life of their precious grandparents.
FAST HEROES 112 is an educational program for young children aiming at stroke prevention. Through a five-week pilot stage of the program in Thessaloniki, Greece, children were trained to identify stroke symptoms and seek help by dialing 112. Cartoon heroes representing stroke symptoms and the concept of time were used to familiarize children with the main stroke symptoms and the importance of acting urgently. Preliminary data are encouraging; they show that most children are able to memorize the three main stroke symptoms and appreciate the significance of taking action as fast as possible. FAST HEROES 112 aims to capture the imagination of more children in future interventions and, if need be, turn them into life-saving heroes.
References:
- Pulgaron ER, Marchante AN, Agosto Y, Lebron CN, Delamater AM. Grandparent Involvement and Children’s Health Outcomes: The Current State of the Literature. Fam Syst Health. 2016 September ; 34(3): 260–269. doi:10.1037/fsh0000212.
- Τeh WL, Abdin E, Vaingankar JA, Seow E, Sagayadevan V, Shafie S, Shazana Shahwan S, Zhang Y, Chong SA, Ng LL, Subramaniam M. Prevalence of stroke, risk factors, disability and care needs in older adults in Singapore: results from the WiSE study. MJ Open 2018;8:e020285. doi:10.1136/ bmjopen-2017-020285.
