Support for stroke survivors

Stroke North is a small independent support group (20 members) started in 2005 to help people who’ve been affected by stroke; both survivors and carers. Stroke North provides a safe place for members to socialise and share their experiences, have fun, and play games and quizzes. The club also goes on outings and has meals together from time to time. There’s a great sense of community within the group.

Stroke survivors may experience impaired mobility caused by weakness of muscles in arm or leg, communication difficulties called aphasia, fatigue, memory loss, or visual impairment.

Meetings are at the Howdon Family Gateway Community Hub, on the second and fourth Friday each month from 1:30 p.m. to 3.30 p.m.

The volunteer should be able to:

• Keep members safe during activities
• Work as part of a team to provide, as required, support for members to participate in the activities of the club, including:
• Before the meeting starts, help to set up for games or other activities
• Helping to serve refreshments at the start of a meeting
• Assisting members who have stroke related communication or visual problems or arm paralysis, to complete their answer sheet during quizzes
• Have conversations with members during refreshments
• Assisting members to participate during ‘floor games’ by guiding them to aim for targets, collecting balls or equipment and keeping scores for the game.
• Assist members to get to the toilet, but not to assist with toileting, any member who requires assistance at the toilet will have a carer to help them.
• During visits to places of interest, giving assistance to members with impaired mobility to get around by pushing wheelchairs or assisting, as needed, with the use of walking aids.
• Assisting members to collect refreshments during visits to places of interest

This list is not exhaustive but covers the main areas of help required.

Skills

• No formal qualifications but some experience of helping people with a disabling condition would be helpful but not essential
• Ability to work as a member of a team that may include people with physical or emotional impairments caused by stroke
• Patience and the ability to help someone with an impairment to feel valued
• Willing to give time to listening and supporting members with communications difficulties or:
• Willing to learn how best to communicate with people with communication problems after their stroke.
• Able to identify potential health and safety risks to members and act to remove the risk e.g. risk tripping from trailing flexes or walking aids, dangers of burn injury when serving hot drinks
• Take account of the Safeguarding policies and report any concerns of potential abuse.