Shetland Stroke Support Group
Chairperson – Caroline Leslie
Dorothy Storey (secretary)
Baila House, Lerwick
Shetland,ZE1 0SF
Email –
Newsletter for October 2016
Welcome to the October newsletter, if you have access to the internet you might like to have a look at our website at www.sssg.co.uk which is updated monthly and has some photos of past events, as well as links to other stroke related websites for information and advice.
In September we had our last daytrip of the year with a bus run through South and North Nesting to Vidlin for lunch at the Vidlin Hall. There was a good turn out with over 30 of us on the bus. It was a lovely sunny day and we enjoyed the beautiful scenery on the way there. After lunch we had a drive out to Lunna before heading back to the town again.
Next Event
Thursday 20th October at 7pm at Quoys – We will be having our AGM and Chinese meal from the Dragon House Takeaway, with various dishes available plus rice/noodles etc with tea/coffee and biscuits afterwards and prawn crackers on the tables. This will be followed by the business part of the meeting.
We are having a visit this year from Katherine Byrne, Policy Manager at Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland, who is travelling up to Shetland to meet us and will provide a short presentation about the work of CHSS. She will also be meeting Tavish Scott while she is here and doing an interview on Radio Shetland with Dorothy to promote the FAST campaign.
Betty Galbraith’s Retirement
As some of you will know Betty has not been keeping too well this year and she has decided it is time for her to step down from being on the committee. She has been a very faithful committee member for many years and particularly enjoyed helping to organise our AGM Takeaway each year. She also enjoyed helping to organise our musical evenings making use of all her musical contacts, and we are very grateful for all her work on behalf of the group. Caroline and Harriet took Betty out for coffee recently and presented her with some flowers to mark her retirement.
Committee Members Needed
Caroline has also decided that the time is right for her to stand down as Chairperson on the committee, we are really grateful to her for all her efforts on behalf of the group, chairing meetings and events and helping in so many ways behind the scenes as well. We are delighted though that she is willing to stay on as a committee member.
Please let us know if you would be interested in joining us on the committee, there are usually only two committee meetings per year, and we keep in touch regularly by email as well as helping out at the monthly events when we can. We like to think we are a very lightsome group and have lots of good times together, sharing the responsibilities among us all of running the group and providing support for as many people as we can who have been affected by stroke.
FAST Awareness Week
Our FAST Awareness week this year starts on Monday 17th October with daily slots on SIBC, tweets by the Scottish Health Council and an advert in the Shetland Times.
FAST is about recognising a stroke quickly and getting help. If you think someone is having a stroke look at the person’s Face and see if one side droops or looks uneven, can they raise both Arms up or does one droop down, can they Speak or is their speech muddled or unintelligible? If you see these signs it’s Time to get help FAST.
FAST Information Stall
On Saturday 22nd October we have organised an information stall in the Toll Clock Shopping Centre, to raise awareness of stroke and the importance of getting help FAST when a stroke is suspected. We will also have information about the Shetland Stroke Support Group. It will be for one day only from 09.00 till 15.00 and you are very welcome to come along and see us there. Margaret Hughson from Yell, who made up the anagram for us last year, has kindly provided another one for us this year to sell on the stall, to raise money for the group funds.
Donations
We are very grateful to have had two large donations recently towards the group funds, one in memory of the late James Reid from Twatt, and one in memory of the late Margaret Jean Robertson of Vidlin. Letters of condolence and thanks have been sent to their families.
Closure of Ronas Ward
The Stroke Support Group has been asked to feed into the consultation process with regard to the proposal for closing the Ronas Ward at the hospital, and providing rehabilitation services for patients in the community. If you have any thoughts on this, especially if you have been a patient in Ronas ward, we would be very pleased to have your comments, so that we can feed them back to the Integrated Joint Board, which is made up of representatives from the SIC and NHS Shetland.
There will also be an opportunity at the AGM to put forward your comments, or you can send them in to me to include in our response if you like. All your comments and thoughts are welcome, and will be included, although we don’t have to include your name if you would rather remain anonymous.
SSSG Events Diary Dates for 2016/17 –
(some of the events still to be confirmed)
· Thursday 17th November –night of music and poetry at Quoys with the SWI choir (formerly the SWRI)
· Thursday 8th December – 7pm Christmas meal at the Shetland Hotel
· January 19th – 7pm at Quoys - Shetland Night with reestit mutton and tattie soup, bannocks and trifle and entertainment
· February 16th - 7pm meal at the Gurkha Kitchen
· March 16th – 7pm at Quoys – Havra DVD with tea/coffee and homebakes
· April 20th – 7pm at the Cornerstone café in Scalloway for a meal
· May 18th – Veeve – 7pm at Quoys with tea/coffee and homebakes
For more information or to arrange transport to the above events please call Dorothy on 01595 696 201
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