Mrs Victoria Onu, Chief Executive Officer of Grace Nursing Care Centre (GNCC) says regular control of blood pressure and healthy lifestyle are necessary for preventing stroke.
Onu said this at the commemoration of World Stroke Day in Abuja on Friday.
She said that stroke was preventable through regular medical checkup.
“You can prevent stroke by quitting smoking, controlling blood pressure, maintaining a healthy weight, eating a healthy diet and exercising on a regular basis,” she said.
She explained that causes of strokes include ischemia (loss of blood supply) or hemorrhage (bleeding) in the brain.
According to her, people at risk for stroke include those who have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and those who smoke.
She added people with heart rhythm disturbances were also at risk.
Onu, also Secretary General Coalition of Societies for the Rights of Older Persons in Nigeria (COSROPIN), described stroke as a cerebrovascular accident.
She said that, “it occurs when part of the brain loses its blood supply and the part of the body that the blood-deprived brain cells control stops working.”
“This loss of blood supply can be ischemic because of lack of blood flow, or hemorrhagic because of bleeding into brain tissue.
“A stroke is a medical emergency because strokes can lead to death or permanent disability.”
Onu, however, said that there were opportunities to treat stroke but that treatment needed to be started in the first few hours after the signs of a stroke began.
The Carer asserted that her centre had capacity to provide help to recovery stroke patients.
She said recovery for a person that had suffered a stroke depended upon the location of the injury to the brain which could only be determined by a doctor.
“Stroke after care is interdisciplinary and very cumbersome most of the time; that is why a nursing home is best suited for it.
“This is because access to different specialists are at easy reach. Such specialists include but not limited to speech therapist, and physiotherapist.”
World Stroke Day, Oct. 29, seeks to emphasise the serious nature and high rates of stroke.
The day is also observed to raise awareness of the prevention and treatment of stroke.
