Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to begin by commending the member for Chisholm for raising the important issue of stroke awareness. Approximately 55,000 Australians are affected by cerebrovascular accidents, commonly known as strokes, each year. One of them is Shane Hopkins, who wrote to me last month. His letter highlights some of the challenges that people living with stroke face but also the possibility of hope for a full recovery. Shane writes:

I suffered a stroke and have been forced to write to you with my left hand. (I am right handed.) I am working on my right side and I know I will recover.

It is safe to say that I do not often get fan mail; it is quite often more hate mail. I was very honoured to receive this, especially from an individual who is living with stroke, as my father did. My father was one of those 55,000 affected by stroke. In his lifetime, he suffered several smaller strokes, eventually leaving him incapacitated and with rapid onset Alzheimer's in his final years. He passed away around 18 months ago.

Of these 55,000 Australians who are affected by stroke, it is estimated that about one-third will recover with little or no visible signs, one-third will survive but will have a permanent disability and one-third will die. Time is a major factor to recovery. If treatment can be initiated within the first three hours, the chances of a full recovery from stroke are greatly enhanced. In my electorate of Cowan, the 2014 records show that there were 2,268 people who suffered a stroke. That number is not likely to have decreased; in fact, it is estimated to rise each year as the population increases. Despite this large number of people in Cowan suffering from stroke, our newest hospital, the Fiona Stanley Hospital, is a considerable distance away and traffic congestion causes additional problems, meaning that delays occur in those critical first few hours after a stroke has occurred.

There is also a lack of services for stroke survivors post an attack. The Northern Suburbs Stroke Support Group is the largest stroke group in Western Australia. It is a voluntary not-for-profit group, and it is not government funded. They rely on their own fund-raising efforts to provide respite breaks for members on an annual basis. I had the pleasure of visiting the group earlier this year and seeing firsthand the wonderful work that they do for strokes victims and their carers with little access to resources or funding. The Northern Suburbs Stroke Support Group's major concern is the lack of facilities in the outer northern suburbs for speech and physiotherapy services for stroke survivors once they have been discharged from hospital.

According to them, stroke is one of the most devastating tragedies that can be inflicted, because, of course, it affects not only the individual but also the entire family. Someone becomes an instant carer with virtually no knowledge of what is going to be demanded of them for many years to come and, without the urgent help and facilities available, the new stroke survivor will often give up the hope to live. There are no facilities in the northern suburbs for speech therapy and no facilities for physiotherapy for stroke survivors. Patients are being discharged from hospital and left to their own devices, and many have been waiting 14 months for access to services.

Of course, as the previous member mentioned, stroke is not only confined to the elderly. I will mention some examples from my electorate. A young 11-year-old girl recently had two strokes in nine days, and one of the youngest stroke survivors, who comes from Girraween, in the southern suburbs of Cowan, was still in her mother's womb when her stroke occurred. Both her grandparents are members of the stroke support group. A 33-year-old male, also from Cowan, suffered what is called the locked-in syndrome stroke, whereby he was completely paralysed and could only blink his eyes. It has taken him five years to recover.

The community awareness of stroke needs to be encouraged. It is essential to be able to identify the signs and symptoms of stroke and the urgency of immediate hospital treatment. The outer suburbs in Cowan urgently require more hospital facilities for stroke patients and access to speech and physiotherapy services. Since we have had closures of rehabilitation hospitals in the area, it has been increasingly difficult for any stroke survivor in the northern suburbs to receive these essential services.

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