I, with nearly 900 others attended the 6th Canadian Stroke Congress in Toronto held from September 17-19th. In my case I had been invited to be a media person representing US survivors. An impressive effort devoted to Stroke Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation was clearly visible.
I was taken by the number of people devoting their lives to the various facets of stroke and stroke recovery in Canada. Besides Canadians, I met American’s who were presenting at the Congress, many of whom indicated that stroke seemed to be more fully covered and organized in Canada than in the US. That has certainly been my impression since attending the 2014 Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery meeting in Ottawa.
So what areas in stroke did the Congress cover?
- The latest advances and innovations in stroke prevention, acute management, rehabilitation, stroke systems, long term recovery and basic science;
- Approaches to stroke care, including systems and discussions of their application in practice;
- Discussions and presentations regarding evidence based research and best practices.
There were well over 100 research posters on display in the large convention meeting room which provided a convenient place to network. Many of the posters were prepared and manned by graduate students as part of their educational efforts. Others were reports of research studies in progress or completed which the research teams wished to report to the Congress attendees.
And of course there were vendors of pharmaceuticals, adaptive equipment and interestingly some of what I called call lifestyle items. The latter were, for example, bean growers who indicated the beans were important components in healthy eating to reduce stroke risk and improve recovery with a healthy diet.
I was most appreciative to attend the Congress and wish to thank the management of the organization for giving me the honor to attend. The experience was definitely an enlightening event.
