In 2020 SAFE Angels patient information books available in even more languages

In 2020 SAFE Angels patient information books available in even more languages

Since 2018, SAFE has participated in the Angels Initiative project providing patient perspective and enabling better patient-doctor communication. The project was so far realised in two phases. In the first phase the patient-centered, evidence-based brochures were translated to 13 languages and distributed in 12 countries, in designated stroke hospitals. In the second phase, conducted in late 2019 and early 2020, the project expanded to include even more countries and languages, increasing reach of these information in 15 European countries.

“It’s proven great to have these books and be able to use them as a tool for raising awareness of stroke prevention and treatment among patients, caregivers and people interested in stroke.”
Hrvoje Budinčević
President of the Croatian Stroke Society / Hrvatsko društvo za prevenciju moždanog udara

The brochures were differently formatted, this time being comprised in one booklet containing five types of stroke-related information. SAFE is proud to report that in the second phase 17 out of 34 its stroke support member organisations participated, making these materials available in 14 languages: Spanish, Serbian, Croatian, Catalan, Georgian, Ukrainian, Greek (Greece), Slovakian, Polish, Turkish, Macedonian, Greek (Cyprus), French, Czech and Hungarian.

“International collaboration of SSOs obviously implies exchange of experience and sharing best examples of materials, ideas, projects, etc. From this point preparing of the set of translated and localized education materials on stroke for patients and general population, initially elaborated by one of the leading SSOs in the world, UK Stroke Association, translated to local languages by national SSOs in several countries with support of SAFE and Angels Initiative, is a great experience, showing all of us that we are not alone, and inspiring us for further own efforts.”
Dmitriy Gulyayev
Director of education, research and publishing projects
Ukrainian Anti-Stroke Association

The project was a great success in all countries where it was presented, clearly demonstrating that there was a gap in availability of stroke-related information among patients. Subsequently, it also brought additional quality to doctor-patient communication in hospitals where patients received these books.

The information provided in the books were kindly provided by the Stroke Association UK*and then translated to all project languages, applying the information standard procedure for the translation.

The original brochures are in English language and you can access their original content by following the links below:

Transient ischaemic attack
Next steps after stroke
Supporting a stroke survivor
When you have a stroke
How to reduce your risk

 

 

“The Angels project and the brochures are helping us to connect patient voices. I see in it the potential for a possible change in the healthcare system. It means in cooperation with Ministry of Health to set up guidelines which will contain uniform information, for what are patients after stroke entitled in social, physiotherapy or speech therapy sphere.”
Alžbeta Husarovič, President of Porazka.sk

 

On this link you can find PDF versions in following languages: Greek (for Greece and Cyprus), Hungarian, Czech, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Georgian, Spanish, Catalan, Hungarian, Polish, Slovakian and French.

SAFE Angels Patient Books for Download

To access the last year’s version of books in Latvian language, please click here.

“SAFE Angels books offer consistency of messages, availability of the required information and ability to share this information. Apart from health-related information, they offer plenty of beneficial advices and solutions for obstacles that patients and their caregivers face every day. After using these books for two years, we think they have helped patients to improve their knowledge, compliance to treatment, self-confidence and self management after stroke.”
Maja Bozinovska Smiceska
President of the Macedonian Stroke Association “Mozočen Udar”

SAFE would like to thank and acknowledge support received from our member stroke support organisations who participated in this project:

Serbia: Serbian Stroke Association
Croatia: Croatian Stroke Society
Spain (Catalonia): Fundacio Ictus
Spain: Federacion Espanola de Ictus
Czech Republic: Sdruzeni SMP
Czech Republic: Cerebrum
Georgia: Medical Foundation Mkurnali
Ukraine: Victory over Stroke
Ukraine: Ukrainian Anti-Stroke Association
Hungary: Stroke Liga Nemzeti
Poland: Fundacja Udaru Mozgu
Macedonia: Macedonian Stroke Association “Mozočen Udar”
Greece: HAAS
Turkey: Beyinder
France: France AVC
Slovakia: Porazka.sk
Cyprus: Cyprus Stroke Association
Luxembourg: Bletz ASBL

About the joint SAFE Angels Initiative project

The mission of Boehringer Ingelheim’s (BI’s) Angels Initiative is to increase the number of patients who can be treated in stroke-ready hospitals and to optimise the quality of treatment in all existing stroke centres. The Stroke Alliance for Europe (SAFE) has partnered with BI to support this ambitious project, adding an important dimension: the patient perspective. SAFE’s involvement means patient-focused information will be available to patients and their carers as soon as they arrive in all stroke units.

About Angels Initiative

Every 30 minutes a stroke patient who could have been saved, dies or is permanently disabled, because they were treated in the wrong hospital.
Angels Initiative is building a global community of stroke centres and stroke-ready hospitals, working every day to improve the quality of treatment for every stroke patient.

In 2017, the Angels Initiative was endorsed by European Stroke Organisation (ESO), the largest European organisation of stroke professionals.
For more information about Angels Initiative, please visit www.angels-initiative.com

 

 

 

#BrainLifeGoals Campaign: A Serbian Story             

#BrainLifeGoals Campaign: A Serbian Story             

Nenad Nikolić, Stroke Association Serbia’s Secretary

Author: Nenad Nikolić, Stroke Association Serbia’s Secretary and Stroke Survivor’s #BrainLifeGoals project manager

During the Brain awareness week, held 11- 17th March 2019, all around the world, many of actions and campaigns took place, aiming to raise public awareness of the progress and benefits of brain research. It was a chance to inform people about the progress in diagnosing, preventing and treating brain disorders. Our Stroke Association Serbia is involved in European and World stroke campaigns, so we used the opportunity to inform our followers about it, using social media and our website.

It was around that time that the European Federation of Neurological Associations launched #BrainLifeGoals campaign. The goal of this campaign is to show and explore aspirations and desires of people who live with brain disorders. Hashtag #Lifegoals has become a popular trend among social media users, clustering their shares about goals and achievements. Sometimes those goals were to have some clothes designed by a famous fashion designer, to earn a lot of money, to travel to exotic destinations, drive a new car… For a person with a brain disorder, these are not important goals- this is luxury, because these people strive for some „basic“ things such as being able to walk again, to read, to write, to talk etc. Things on a daily basis that most of us do automatically and easily can be an achievement and a life goal for someone with brain disorders. We can call them #BrainLifeGoals.

Our Association recognized the importance of this particular campaign because we could easily relate to it. We decided to support it with active participation. Since I have been managing our Association’s Facebook and Twitter page, and have a very active communication with our followers, I was privileged to receive many people’s stories about their personal experience with stroke.

We decided to publish stories of people with stroke, with an emphasis on their #BrainLifeGoals during their recovery. Than we asked and encouraged those people, most of being in their twenties and early thirties, to share their stories publicly, and to raise awareness of all the problems they’re facing, but also to encourage others with stroke and give them strength to continue their daily struggle with stroke consequences.

No matter how hard we try to advocate for stroke, no one can do it better than someone who has experienced it.

Preparing these stories was a bit of challenge, because there is a lot to be said, and I needed to prioritize. I felt a lot of responsibility, because I was writing about someone’s life, and it had to be done the right way and without many medical terms in order to make understandable for broader audience. The facts and events they told us were shaping stories. Each story was different and had its own concept. All these stories contain variety of emotions: Fear, anxiety, uncertainty, but also hope and huge amount of willpower and support. These stories carry strong messages. Almost every storyteller’s life has changed drastically and these people have now completely different views on life and its aspects, many of them have new hobbies, new healthy habits, many changed their nutrition habits to healthy diets, many of them became more stress tolerant… Highlighting these changes felt like a very important thing to do.

Predrag M. – A middle school physics teacher, a father and a stroke survivor whose #BrainLifeGoal was to be able to read again.

Their #BrainLifeGoals vary from person to person. For someone it was babysitting and playing with their children, for someone cycling, reading, walking without help to nearby sightseeing… Eight stories have been published so far, and some of storytellers had a stroke at the age of 18 and 19! Several more stories are in preparation and will be published soon. Some of our story tellers- Stroke Survivors, had a stroke in their sleep, some while on work. It is clear that stroke can happen anytime, anywhere, to anyone. All  these stories have a strong empathetic potential and when read, the reader is faced with situations and problems that the survivors are facing every day. If these stories are encouraging people to think that way, it is our victory! We modified our website www.mozdaniudar.org so every single published story is on one page that can be easily accessed with only one click www.mozdaniudar.org/wp/brainlifegoals/

Except for the important messages stroke survivors tell, it is very important to underline that they also talk openly about stroke. This is, once again, very important, because these wonderful people are encouraging others with stroke to talk freely about their problems, and prevent stigmatization of stroke patients.

The usual procedure is that we first share story on our website and social media accounts, than we translate it to English, and later EFNA shares them on their site www.efna.net/brainlifegoals/ . This way, stories of stroke survivors reach larger international audience. Other Internet portals sometimes share our stories, and we are happy about it. We started with a story of a mother of three who suffered a stroke at 40. Her basic motivation and #BrainLifeGoal was to play again with her children.  We continued Campaign with a story of young nursery teacher who had a stroke, and after she recovered, she won a medal in downhill cycling!  This inspiring story shows that not only recovery is possible, but also excellent results can be achieved.

Marina K. – A Downhill Biking Champion, a mother and a stroke survivor

In all our cover stories focus is on a stroke survivor, which is very important. For me personally, participating and managing Campaign #BrainLifeGoals in Serbia is a big pleasure, and I really enjoy working on this. I am very proud that our participating in this campaign with working title “Stroke survivor’s brain life goals” is rewarded by EFNA with a grant that really meant a lot to our organisation and helped us organize our core activities.

We are all excited because we feel that we are doing a right thing, helping to raise public awareness about stroke and difficulties that stroke survivors are experiencing in their life after stroke. In a way, we became a “PATIENT VOICE” which is one of our SSO’s basic purposes, and a slogan of the Stroke Alliance for Europe whose member we are proud to be – “The Stroke Patient Voice in Europe”.

Image credits: All images used in this article are property of the Stroke Association Serbia.

 

 

 

The #BrainLifeGoals Photo Competition

The #BrainLifeGoals Photo Competition

Press Release | Source: EFNA

Launched in 2019, the #BrainLifeGoals campaign is raising awareness of the impact of neurological disorders by exploring the dreams and aspirations of those affected.

Sharing #LifeGoals has become a popular trend in social media. #LifeGoals are the often frivolous wishes people have – for example to own a designer handbag, meet a film star or drive a Maserati! Through this campaign people are putting a new spin on the trend by instead sharing their #BrainLifeGoals.
The campaign is an initiative of the European Federation of Neurological Associations (EFNA), an umbrella organisation representing pan-European neurology patient groups.

What are your #BrainLifeGoals for the New Year?

We’re approaching New Year- a time when it is traditional in many parts of the world to resolve to makes changes for the better, or to accomplish a personal goal. As part of the #BrainLifeGoals campaign EFNA is pleased to launch a photo competition on this theme. Participants are invited to submit photographs that reflect their goal for the future.

Get some tips on taking great photographs here.

Prizes
• The winning entry will receive a top prize of €500.
• Four runners-up will each receive a prize of €250.

Entries will be judged by a panel including patients representatives and professional photographers. Winners will be announced in late January 2020.

EFNA plans to hold an exhibition of entries at the European Parliament in Brussels during Brain Awareness Week (March) [to be confirmed], and again at the European Academy of Neurology Congress in Paris (May).

The competition will be open until Wednesday, January 1st 2020 at midnight CET.

CLICK HERE FOR ENTRY FORM.

COMPETITION RULES
• Photos should reflect the #BrainLifeGoals theme .
• Photos must be submitted via the entry form here.
• Photos should be high-resolution (a minimum of 1MB and a maximum of 6MB file-size).
• Photos may be taken using a regular camera, smartphone or tablet.
• Entrants must provide their name, nationality and email address.
• Each entry must be entirely the original work of the contestant, must have a title, description and indicate the location in which the photo was taken.
• Entries submitted in a language other than English should include English translation.
• Entrants should be personally affected by a neurological disorder.
• Any person included in a photo must have given their express permission to be photographed.
• By submitting a photograph to EFNA the contestant agrees to grant EFNA, free of charge, the right to publish the photograph online and in other EFNA media.
• The contestant agrees to grant EFNA the right to publish the name, nationality and entry details provided with their entry.
• Closing deadline for entries is 1st January 2020 and all entries must be submitted electronically.
• The winning entries shall be announced in late January 2020
• Entrants under 16 years of age, must obtain your parent’s or guardian’s permission before entering the competition.
• A maximum of three entries may be submitted by each participant.
• The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence shall be entered into.
• EFNA reserves the right to disqualify any entry which breaches any of these rules.
• An independent judging panel shall select the winner and runners up.
• All information submitted will be stored in accordance with EFNA’s Data Protection Policy.

Image source: EFNA

Disclaimer: This article was written by a third party. It does not necessarily express the views of the Stroke Alliance for Europe. The party who issues this press release is entirely responsible for the accuracy of its information.

Speakers

Speakers

Sorina Pintea
Minister of Health of Romania

Born on the 13th of September 1965, Sorina Pintea is by profession an economist, with experience in the field of healthcare, as well as business management, public administration, project management and consultancy.
She has lived, worked and studied in the north of Romania until 2017. She holds a degree in economy from Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, and has trained in various complementary fields including business administration, public administration, project management and hospital management.
Her entire professional career was built on her strong economic abilities, and she was a consultant, director, manager and has developed projects that many have deemed unsalvageable.
She was manager of the Pneumophtisology Hospital Dr. Nicolae Rusdea Baia Mare for four years with very good results, which encouraged her to take on a bigger challenge, that of managing the Emergency County Hospital Dr. Constantin Opris Baia Mare. Her management skills were widely recognized in the community, as she managed to boost investment, raise salaries and raise the profit of the hospital.
In 2017, on the Romanian Army Day, Ms. Pintea was awarded Honorary Membership in the Commander’s Grade by the Military Order, for her dedication and results in the healthcare field.
Ms. Pintea has been a member of the Social Democratic Party since 2009, and was elected senator in the 26 Maramures constituency in December 2016. She was a member of the committee on labor, family and social protection and vice chair of the commission for the investigation of abuse, combating corruption and petitions. In early 2017 she resigned from the senator office in favor of continuing her work in the aforementioned hospital. In January 2018 she became the Minister of Health.
Ms. Pintea is married and has three children. Besides Romanian, she speaks English, Italian and Russian.

 

Tiberius-Marius Brădățan
Secretary of State, Ministry of Health of Romania

Tiberius is a graduate of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Iași, Gr.T.Popa, primary medicine emergency psysician. From Augist 2017 to November 2018, Tiberius served as Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Health coordinating activity of the Employership and Trade Units Division, the work of the Operațional Center fo Emergency Situation and is a member of the working group for the elaboration of the Law of Health Professions. By a decision of the Prime Minister published on Wednesday, November 28, 2018, Tiberius-Marius Brădățan was released from the post of Undersecretary of State at the Ministy of  Health and was promoted to the post of Secretary of State at the same ministry.

 

Martin Seychell
Deputy Director-General for Health and Food Safety, DG SANTE

A graduate in chemistry and pharmaceutical technology, Mr. Seychell specializsed in Chemical analysis. He has held important positions on several government boards and commissions in Malta, including the Food Safety Commission and the Pesticides Board. Mr Seychell occupied the post of Head of Directorate at the Malta Standards Authority between 2001 and 2006. He has been responsible for the implementation of a number of EU directives in the areas of risk assessment, food safety, chemicals and cosmetic products legislation. Additionally, he has actively participated in negotiations on major technical proposals such as the new chemicals legislation, REACH, and in screening processes in the areas of free movement of goods, environment and agriculture during the process leading to Malta’s accession to the EU. He held the post of Director of Environment in Malta between 2006 and 2011. As Director, he was responsible for a broad range of functions arising from the Maltese Environment Protection Act. He was appointed Deputy Director General for Health and Consumers at the European Commission in March 2011. Additionally, he is responsible for directorates dealing with Consumer affairs, Public health and Health systems and products (SANCO). 2014 – to date: Deputy Director-General for Health in the Health and Food Safety Directorate-General (SANTE).

 

Rokas Navickas
Scientific Coordinator of the CHRODIS PLUS Joint Action

Dr. Rokas Navickas is a highly accomplished Physician and Organisation Leader with international training and global experience that reflects achievements across healthcare, wellness sector, research and education of Cardiology initiatives. Dr. Rokas Navickas is the Scientific Coordinator and Executive Board member at CHRODIS PLUS, a joint action between EU countries to reduce the burden of chronic diseases. Dr.Navickas coordinates and monitors the implementing work package leaders’ and promotes the necessary cooperation among them, establishing a common overall CHRODIS-PLUS methodological approach towards the general aim of implementing new or innovative policies and practices. Till 2018 Navickas was also a consultant cardiologist at Vilnius University Hospital, a position he has held since 2010. Prior to that he was a specialty trainee at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust from 2008 and 2010, as well as a foundation trainee at Oxford University Hospital NHS Trust. Navickas has also been a board member of Lithuanian Heart Association. In addition, he is a fellow at the European Society of Cardiology and a member of the Lithuanian Hypertension Association. R.Navickas received his MD from the Vilnius University Medical Faculty, including elective studies in cardiology at Oxford University. In 2016 he received a Ph.D. from Vilnius University. Currently improves his knowledge at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) as Executive Master of Science – EMSc, Health Economics, Outcomes and Management in Cardiovascular diseases.

 

Mikel Irujo Amezaga
Member of the European Committee of the Regions

Mikel Irujo Amezaga. PhD in European Law, he worked in Thomson Reuters, world’s leading source of legal intelligent information, from 1996 to 2015. After two periods of leave to work in the European Parliament (1999-2002 as assistant and 2007-2009 as MEP), he went back to the company in 2009, being responsible of the EU Procurement and Programmers Unit. In September 2015, he is appointed as the Head of the Navarra Delegation in Brussels. He has been the rapporteur on two Committee of the Regions opinions on Smart Specialisation Strategies (RIS3) and inter-regional cooperation and, secondly, Strengthening Innovation in Europe’s Regions: Strategies for resilient, inclusive and sustainable growth. Currently Navarra is leading the Partnership “Social economy to foster industrialisation” under the call of thematic platforms for industrial modernisation (DG Regio). He is the coordinator for the thematic platform partnership on social economy.

 

Tiina Laatikainen

Professor of Health Promotion in the Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition in the Medical Faculty of the University of Eastern Finland and the Research Professor in the Department of Public Health Solutions in the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Finland (THL)

Earlier Professor Laatikainen was a Director of the Department of Chronic Disease Prevention at the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) from 2009 to 2012 and a Head of Chronic Disease Prevention Unit (2005-2008) in the National Public Health Institute (KTL). She has had an affiliation to KTL as a researcher since her graduation in the Medical Faculty of the University of Helsinki in 1996.

In 2004, Professor Laatikainen worked as a senior lecturer in the Greater Green Triangle University Department of Rural Health (Deakin and Flinders Universities) in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia. Professor Laatikainen’s research and expert functions have concerned mainly epidemiology and prevention of main public health problems such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, memory disorders, asthma and allergy. She has coordinated several large population based surveys nationally and internationally and has been closely involved in the national and international working groups developing methodology of health monitoring. She has also long-term expertise in developing and conducting evidence-based lifestyle interventions. She has over 300 peer reviewed research papers. Professor Laatikainen has, internationally and domestically, served in a number of scientific, expert and public health functions, WHO’s work and multinational projects. She has since 2002 coordinated the work of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Non-Communicable Disease Prevention, Health Promotion and Monitoring in Finland.

 

Karsten Uno Petersen
Member and health rapporteur of the European Committee of the Regions

Karsten Uno Petersen is a regional council member of the Social Democratic Party (S) in the Region of Southern Denmark, where he is chairman of the Innovation Committee, Vice-Chairman of the Committee for Regional Development and a member of their Executive Committee. He is also a member of the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels and other European health organizations.
Karsten Uno started his political career in 1993, became county councilor of Ribe County Council, and he has been a regional council member since 2005. Besides being a regional council member, he is the director of the company LiveAid.

 

Jon Barrick
President, Stroke Alliance for Europe

Jon Barrick is the President of the Stroke Alliance for Europe, a coalition of Stroke Support Organisations, as well as a Board member of the World Stroke Organisation and Chairman of the WSO World Stroke Campaign. Both his Mother and Father had strokes. Until July 2016 he was Chief Executive of the Stroke Association, the UK wide charity dealing with all aspects of stroke. In 12 years in that post the charity grew threefold, providing over 350 services at local level to stroke survivors and their families, with over 450 affiliated stroke clubs and long term support groups throughout the country. Jon has been made a lifetime Vice President of the Stroke Association.
Jon played a key role in ensuring the development of the National Stroke Strategy in England. This model of stroke support organisations, informed by stroke survivors wishes, has been advanced by sharing this concept to other countries. Jon helped to build a coalition of Stroke Patient organisations across Europe from 7 organisations to 32. In time, it is hoped that each of these stroke support organisations will grow in their own way to advance the cause of stroke survivors, stroke research and better support in each of their countries.
Previously Jon was UK Director of Community Services for 15 years at the Royal National Institute of the Blind, and chaired the committee on Aging and Blindness for the World Blind Union where he gathered his expertise in the governance of international voluntary sector activity. He has been Trustee with a host of various organisations in the past including jointly chairing the British Neurological Alliance of over 50 neurological charities, and being a Trustee of the Association of Medical Research Charities (over 150 charities researching medical conditions).
Jon himself appeared in the top 5 ranking of Britain’s most admired Charity CEO’s in 2006 and 2013.

 

Bart van der Worp
President, European Stroke Organisation

cerebrovascular diseases at the University Medical Center in Utrecht, the Netherlands. He has been (co-) Chief Investigator of the randomised clinical trials HAMLET, PAIS, COOLIST, and VAST and is (co-)Chief Investigator of PRECIOUS, APACHE-AF, and MR ASAP. He is a member of the recently founded Dutch CONTRAST consortium which aims to identify and test new treatments for patients with acute ischaemic stroke or intracerebral haemorrhage through a range of follow-up trials to MR CLEAN. He is President of the European Stroke Organisation (ESO). Three years of preclinical work in the 1990s have aroused his interest in the translation of findings from animal stroke studies to clinical trials, which he aims to improve together with other members of CAMARADES.

 

Bo Norrving
Coordinator of the Stroke Action Plan for Europe 2018-2030

Prof Bo Norrving is professor in neurology at Lund University, Sweden. Bo Norrving is a founding member and past vice-president of the ESO. He had key positions in the Helsingborg declarations on stroke care in Europe, and he chaired the ESO European Action Plan for Stroke 2018-30 steering committee. He was the President of the World Stroke Organization (WSO) 2008-2012 and continues to chair the WSO Global Policy Committee and representing stroke at the WHO and the UN. He chaired the stroke group at WHO for the ICD 11 revision.  Bo Norrving has authored >500 publications including several seminal papers e.g. the Swedish Aspirin Low Dose Study, and the world’s largest study of stroke in the young. He is a founder of Riksstroke, the world’s 1st national stroke registry. He has received numerous awards including the AHA/ASA Sherman award for life time achievements in stroke.

 

Sorin Tuță
Vice-president of the Romanian National Stroke Association

Sorin Tuță, MD, PhD is Associated Professor at University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, Bucharest. His medical activity as neurologist is currently taking place at the National Institute of Neurology and Neurovascular Diseases Bucharest, where he is a coordinator. Between 2006-2007, he was also the Medical Director of the National Institute of Neurology and Neurovascular Diseases Bucharest. His professional training in the stroke field include a European Master in Stroke Medicine (2007-2009), a degree programme organised by the European Stroke Organisation and endorsed by the World Stroke Organisation.

Dr Sorin Tuță has been a Member of the Neurology Committee of the Romanian Ministry of Health in 2013, and also Secretary of the Steering Committee of the “BrainLINC Journal”. He is the Vice-president of the Romanian National Stroke Association and was in charge with the organization of the Romanian National Stroke Conference between 2016-2018. He was awarded with three national and one international awards for his scientific activity, especially in the stroke field.

 

Cristina Tiu
Elected future President of the Romanian Neurology Society (SNR) for 2021-2025

Dr Cristina Tiu graduated from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” in Bucharest, in 1987. She became a senior neurologist in 1997, senior lecturer in 2000 and associated professor in 2006. In 2012, she got a European Master of Sciences in Stroke Medicine (Danube University, Krems, Austria). She has spent 24 years in the Department of Neurology of the University Hospital Bucharest. Dr Tiu has a special interest in the field of cerebrovascular disorders, so she added neurosonology to her clinical and teaching activities, a field in which she organises a yearly teaching course.She is currently the coordinator of the Stroke Unit of the University Hospital Bucharest. She is also the leader of the Working Group for Priority Action in Stroke created by the Romanian Ministry of Health, and has organized the national network for interventional treatment in stroke in the past two years.

 

Grethe Lunde,
Stroke Survivor & SAFE Board member

Grethe Lunde is a Board member of the Stroke Alliance for Europe. Grethe is from Stavanger, Norway. She has over 24 years of experience as a stroke survivor, both with and without wheels. Grethe also has 20 years of experience in working for stroke organisations and providing peer support, giving speeches about her life as a stroke survivor and how to master a life after having a stroke.

 

Cathy Smith
Professional moderator, SpeakEasy

Cathy Smith is the founder of the Brussels communications company SpeakEasy.
She specialises in conference moderating, media and crisis training all over Europe.
Cathy worked for the BBC for many years as a reporter and presenter. She is a former Brussels-based correspondent for both the BBC and GMTV and was a main presenter of Channel Four News and ITN World News in the UK. She also fronted European Journal for DeutscheWelle TV from Brussels.

This year’s first SAFE Board meeting held in London

This year’s first SAFE Board meeting held in London

This year’s first SAFE Board meeting took place in London this week, from 4-5th February.

The Board members took two days to discuss the current and future SAFE Strategy, with special focus on governance, finances and supported growth in member organisations.

Among many SAFE ongoing projects, there will be two which are very important for SAFE’s political activities. The first and the fast approaching is the  EU Presidency event that is going to organised in the EU Parliament on 28th March this year. The Board discussed the details around this project and the activities that will be performed prior to the event to ensure better impact. The other strategically important project is the big research about the Economic Impact of Stroke in Europe. This research is being done by the Oxford University researchers and the report is to be presented in the EU Parliament at the end of October this year, around the World Stroke Day.

The Board ratified the Social Media Strategy and agreed on ways forward and the venues for this year’s Regional Conferences were defined.

Stroke Support Organisation Faculty Tool (SSOFT) was again among the most important topics, considering its value and significance for the stroke support organisations’ empowerment.