Stroke ‘scarily common’ in society
On behalf of the National Stroke Foundation, I would like to thank the thousands of Australians who challenged stroke by living healthy, being aware and getting a health check throughout Stroke Week.
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National Stroke Week is our annual campaign to shine the spotlight on stroke, raising awareness of the devastating impact of this insidious disease.
Stroke Week is an opportunity for all Australians to learn about stroke and how they can reduce their own risk.
I am confident that there are thousands of people in the community who are more informed and can take control of their health after this week’s activities.
With Stroke Week coming to a close it is vital we remember strokes don’t just happen one week of the year. Every 10 minutes an Australian has a stroke. Every 10 minutes someone’s life changes forever.
Stroke is scarily common in Australia – it is a national health emergency. Last year alone Australians suffered 50,000 strokes.
What many people don’t know is that most strokes are preventable.
There are things we can all do to help protect ourselves, like being aware of and managing our blood pressure, maintaining a healthy diet, stopping smoking and heavy drinking, and exercising.
Thanks to our incredible supporters we were able to spread this message far and wide this Stroke Week, reaching a record number of Australians.
But our work doesn’t stop here - it is our mission to ensure everyone understands what a stroke is and what they can do to avoid having one.
It will take the combined efforts of the community, health professionals and government to achieve this mission.
I know together we can fight stroke and win.
Dr Erin Lalor, National Stroke Foundation CEO
Tolerance, understanding and caution
Being able to read the Bendigo Addy daily since the late ‘50s and catch up on local events has been most pleasurable until recently. It appears to me the Addy should now be re named as the Chester/Kitt daily. It seems quite incredible that these two individuals can get so much space so regularly.
Too many articles featured in your paper are just taken from publications in The Age and, therefore, do not give your readers a balanced view of what is occurring in our society. Of course, I do realise that the Addy is a Fairfax paper and their views are slanted somewhat to the left. I suppose it would be too much to ask for you to give us a honest and reliable and balanced view of what is going on in our country.
In relation to the mosque debate, there is a strong belief and concern from senior citizens and many of our population about the increasing number of Muslims amongst us and their ability to assimilate in our communities. Every day we read in our papers and view on TV atrocities committed right around the world and in almost every instance the aggressors appear to be what are described as jihadists or Muslim extremists. No wonder many people are wary of accepting these people in our community.
I personally believe that the majority of Muslims in our country are decent and hard-working individuals. What troubles us is too many children of Muslims in our country have been charged with terrorist offences and jailed. Many others have gone to Iraq and Syria to support ISIS, a most terrible and brutal group.
Whilst we have assimilated into our society people from countries all over the world and who have contributed so much to our way of life successfully, the challenge of accepting Muslims into our societies is causing anguish and concern to many people. There is no doubt that we have to show tolerance and understanding, but unfortunately must remain cautious in view of current events all over our world.