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Heartline Magazine April - June 2006
Coming of age
The Heart Foundation turns 21 and embraces stroke
In his report to members of the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Barbados
(HFOB) at the 19th Annual General Meeting in March last year, President Dru
Symmonds SCM, J.P. introduced the plan to expand the organizational structure of the Heart
Foundation to embrace stroke.
Stroke is caused by abnormalities of blood vessels and, like
heart attacks, is often due to sudden occlusion or blockage of an artery. While
heart attacks involve the coronary arteries, most forms of stroke occur when a
brain (or cerebral) artery becomes blocked. Thus stroke and heart
attack are simply different manifestations of blood vessel disease in different
parts of the body and the risk factors for these two conditions are basically
the same and include hypertension, tobacco smoking, diabetes, high blood
cholesterol and obesity.
All interested in the welfare of patients with either
condition therefore welcomed the formal inclusion of stroke into the Heart
Foundation, and this came into effect at the AGM on April 18th 2006. Thus, as
the Heart Foundation reached its 21st anniversary, it was re-launched as the
Heart & Stroke Foundation of Barbados, with a new mission: “To keep people heart
healthy and reduce suffering and death from heart disease and stroke.”
Heart & Stroke associations have been formed in many parts
of the world to the benefit of patients at risk of or who have suffered either a
stroke or a heart attack. The amalgamation of the two interests under one
organization here in Barbados will be mutually beneficial to both. Predictably
membership will increase and consequently the power of advocacy for patient care
issues relating to heart disease and stroke will be better served.
Preliminary hospital surveys, done in the nineties, showed
that about 250 cases of stroke were admitted to the QEH each year. Overall, the
crude annual incidence of stroke in Barbados for the entire population is
approximately 1.31 cases per 1000 population, which translates to 1.4 and 1.63
per 1000 for males and females respectively, among the majority (95 percent)
black population.
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