Florence, 27 Oct. (Adnkronos) () — Tuscany celebrates International Cerebral Stroke Day one day in advance. It does so on Friday 28 October in Florence with a meeting open to the public, at 10 am in the Sala Pegaso of the Tuscany Region (Piazza Duomo 10). The theme, moreover, is of great importance: there are at least ten thousand people affected by cerebral stroke every year in Tuscany, 200 thousand in Italy.
The initiative is organized by the Fondazione Confcommercio Toscana Onlus, which thus continues its dissemination commitment to support the Stroke Network created by the Tuscany Region.»Stroke is a subtle, sudden and unpredictable pathology, which leaves very little time margin to intervene, because every minute that passes is worth two million brain cells», explains the president of the Confcommercio Foundation Antonio Fanucchi, «the only valid weapon to fight stroke is therefore the timeliness of rescue. That’s why from 2019 – with only one year of stop in 2020 due to the pandemic – we are committed to bringing around Tuscany a series of very simple training and information events: we compare doctors and researchers with citizens, who together explain how to recognize the symptoms of stroke and what to do to save those affected, or at least reduce the damage.»
After the stages of Lucca, Arezzo, Livorno and Prato, the format of the conference «Stroke: a few minutes are worth a life», developed by the Confcommercio Toscana Onlus Foundation together with the Tuscany Region then returns to Florence, where it all began in 2018, always with the collaboration of the ALICe Association (Association for the Fight against Cerebral Stroke), Regional Federation of the Misericordie of Tuscany, Public Assistance Tuscany Anpas and Regional Committee of the Red Cross.»Our trade association wants to be an active protagonist of society, offering its contribution in the construction of economic development as well as good living in general», underlines the president of Confcommercio Toscana Aldo Cursano, «thanks to our Foundation we are therefore able to intervene in important areas, such as public health, and this makes us particularly proud».
«I thank the Fondazione Confcommercio Toscana Onlus for this important initiative — says the regional councilor for the right to health and health Simone Bezzini — which sees the precious collaboration of voluntary associations and the support of institutions. It is essential to promote greater awareness and knowledge of cerebral stroke, the time factor is decisive and it is necessary to be able to intervene promptly and appropriately. In 2016, the Tuscany Region created the Regional Stroke Network, based on full integration territory-hospital-territory, to ensure appropriate interventions, according to homogeneous clinical-care standards, in order to reduce mortality and permanent outcomes of the acute event.We are working to strengthen it even more, with particular attention to patient safety, to the improvement of the quality of care, even in complex care pathways, with a consequent reduction in mortality, disability and health and social costs related to the disease, to the enhancement of professional skills, to innovation and adaptation of technological resources, but also to the increase in the volumes of cases treated, the integration between the territorial emergency-urgency network, the hospital network and the primary care network, organizational flexibility, integration and multi-professional and multidisciplinary inclusion».
The meeting of 28 October will open — after watching the institutional video explained by the CNR researcher Marzia Baldereschi — with the greetings of the regional councilor for the right to health Simone Bezzini, the president of the Confcommercio Toscana Onlus Foundation Antonio Fanucchi and the president of Confcommercio Toscana Aldo Cursano. The speeches will be moderated by the editor-in-chief of «La Nazione» of Florence Erika Pontini.
For the technical part, the clinical manager of the Tuscan Stroke Network Giovanni Orlandi, the director of the Pistoia-Empoli Operations Center Piero Paolini, the director of the Stroke Unit of the University Hospital of Careggi Patrizia Nencini and the director of Neuroradiology Usl Toscana Centro Angela Konze will intervene. They are entrusted with the task of making people understand how the existing rescue network works in Tuscany and what are the methods of intervention and management of the patient affected by a stroke at home, at work or on the street. Actions that, on the edge of minutes, can make the difference in saving a life and reducing the physical and neurological damage that could result from this pathology. Damage that weighs not only on the patient and his family, but on the whole community, in social and economic terms, as the director of INPS Cristina Deidda will explain in her report. Suffice it to say that every year a family doctor assists from 4 to 7 patients suffering from acute stroke and must follow at least 20 survivors.
«If the management of the acute phase of the disease can count on a very efficient network of supports, that of the rehabilitation of patients and support for their families must still be defined in the guidelines and contents.», specifies the president of the Association for the Fight against Cerebral Stroke ALICe Toscana Alessandro Viviani, who will be among the speakers of the Florentine conference together with the president of ALICe Firenze Domenico Inzitari, founder of the Florence Stroke Unit and of the Tuscan Stroke Network. «It is precisely here — continues Viviani — that our association is engaged with concrete and innovative projects, such as the Aphasia Choir of Florence, which includes people whose stroke has compromised the possibility of speaking, but not that of singing». Testimonies that will instill confidence and hope in those who now, unfortunately, are struggling with this pathology.
Some numbers on stroke
Cerebral stroke is a serious disease, with high incidence and prevalence, but it is also among the most preventable and treatable.It affects 16 million people in the world every year, 200,000 in Italy alone. Every year in Tuscany about 10,000 people are affected by stroke: and about 50,000 people have survived a stroke. Every year a family doctor treats 4 to 7 acute stroke patients and must follow at least 20 survivors.
The annual expenditure for cerebral stroke care in Italy is estimated at around 3.5 billion euros. The permanent disability of a person who overcomes the acute phase of the stroke determines in the following years an average expense of about 100,000 euros. The delay with which the patient or family members contact 112 is the main factor responsible for the low percentage of patients treated (in Tuscany about 14%). If all patients with acute stroke were admitted to the Stroke Unit, every year in Tuscany 800-1,400 deaths or severely disabled people would be avoided (with a saving estimated at about 15 million per year) and 300-500 admissions to the institution (with a saving estimated at 4.5-7.5 million per year).
It is essential to learn to recognize the symptoms, for us and for those around us, at home, at work, on the street: in order to react in time, call 112 immediately and arrive immediately at the hospital where the doctors have been pre-alerted, and are therefore already ready to take charge of the patient to start him very quickly to investigations and treatments.
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Source — https://www.univadis.it/viewarticle/domani-la-toscana-celebra-la-giornata-di-prevenzione-dellictus-cerebrale