To enhance stroke patient care and support caregivers in maintaining their own mental and physical health, more than 20 caregivers attended a training. Bhutan Stroke Foundation organised the basic caregiver education workshop in Thimphu which ended yesterday. Participants include stroke patient caregivers, volunteers and patients. Stroke is one of the cardiovascular diseases caused by high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes among others which are caused by unhealthy diets, tobacco use, physical inactivity and harmful use of alcohol.
The workshop focused on the importance of kindness, patience and time management for caregivers.
Participants were trained in four different areas including physiotherapy, palliative care, traditional healing and yoga, and spiritual healing.
“Being a caregiver for my wife, who has been a stroke patient for five years, I understand the challenges faced by the caregivers. Everybody is concerned about the patient but nobody knows what the caregiver goes through. So, I decided to start this training,” said Dawa Tshering, Executive Director of the Bhutan Stroke Foundation.
He added that experiences shared by the caregivers during the workshop will help the foundation to design specific categories of training in the future.
The caregivers and volunteers who attended the training said that the training was useful for them.
“My husband has been a stroke patient for about three months now. It was very difficult for me to be a caregiver without any experience. But through this training, I got a lot of knowledge. I think I will be able to take good care of him hereafter,” said Tshering Dema, stroke patient caregiver.
“I learned a lot about both, stroke patients and caregivers. If anyone in my family or my friends becomes a patient, I understand what to do as a caregiver. Moreover, as a Desuup, I will be able to take care of a stroke patient anywhere I go,” said Sonam Yuden who is a volunteer.
“I learned that as a caregiver, we should not be frustrated with the patient. We should be gentle and have patience with them, even if we are frustrated,” said Pema Choden, stroke patient caregiver.
According to the Bhutan Stroke Foundation, only about ten per cent of the total number of caregivers in the country attended the first training.
There are about 200 stroke patients registered with the foundation, with about 40 of them in Thimphu.
The foundation plans to strategize resources and seek collaborations to make this training an annual event.
Globally, stroke is the second leading cause of death and the third leading cause of disability.
In the country, going by the foundation’s record, the national referral hospital sees about two new stroke cases daily with the numbers expected to increase by now.
And the health ministry’s annual health bulletin 2017, stroke is the sixth leading cause of death in the country.
Namgay Dema
Edited by Tshering Zam
