{"id":114871,"date":"2025-08-14T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=114871"},"modified":"2025-08-13T15:52:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T05:52:23","slug":"donation-brings-stroke-coordinator-to-the-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/donation-brings-stroke-coordinator-to-the-region\/","title":{"rendered":"Donation brings stroke coordinator to the region"},"content":{"rendered":"

A DONATION from the River Birch Foundation will allow stroke patients at Grampians Health Ballarat<\/a> to receive enhanced care.<\/p>\n

A full-time stroke coordinator position has been created, funded by the foundation alongside Grampians Health.<\/p>\n

The Grampians region has a higher rate of people living with stroke than the state average and Grampians Health is the region’s primary stroke care centre.<\/p>\n

“Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and morbidity in Australians and more so in the Grampians,” Grampians Health head of neurology Dr Mandy Lau said.<\/p>\n

“What we are seeing is outcomes in this region are pretty poor and in the 2024 Australian stroke registry we failed miserably.<\/p>\n

“What we know is that having a stroke coordinator, it addresses these gaps, and it is an integral part so if a patient comes here, we quickly get them through the ED.”<\/p>\n

Casey Hair shares the Ballarat stroke coordinator role with her colleague Shannon O’Connor. They assist in education, prevention, recognition of a stroke, rehabilitation and community care.<\/p>\n

“A stroke coordinator role involved all parts of the stroke care continuum,” Ms Hair said.<\/p>\n

“Shannon and I both attend the code strokes so when a patient comes into the emergency department we are there, we are helping the assessment and getting them across to CT.<\/p>\n

“We’re also working behind the scenes with policies, guidelines, governance, training.”<\/p>\n

The shared role is part of a broader initiative where Ms Hair is also seconded as the Grampians regional stroke care coordinator.<\/p>\n

The aim of the role is to provide an innovative approach to stroke care within the region and to create a network that benefits patients.<\/p>\n

Last week was National Stroke Week<\/a>, and Dr Lau reminded the community of the importance of knowing the F.A.S.T. (Face, Arms, Speech and Time) signs of stroke.<\/p>\n

“We need to recognise stroke early so we can treat early,” she said.<\/p>\n

“If we can treat early, there is a higher chance of rescuing that brain and having a better outcome.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A DONATION from the River Birch Foundation will allow stroke patients at Grampians Health Ballarat to receive enhanced care. A full-time stroke coordinator position has been created, funded by the foundation alongside Grampians Health. The Grampians region has a higher rate of people living with stroke than the state average and Grampians Health is the […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":211,"featured_media":114875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-114871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDonation brings stroke coordinator to the region - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/donation-brings-stroke-coordinator-to-the-region\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Donation brings stroke coordinator to the region - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A DONATION from the River Birch Foundation will allow stroke patients at Grampians Health Ballarat to receive enhanced care. A full-time stroke coordinator position has been created, funded by the foundation alongside Grampians Health. 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