Every two weeks at Taranaki Base Hospital, stroke
survivor Grant Kenny volunteers alongside the Speech
Language Therapy (SLT) team to lead a communication group
for people who have speech and language difficulties post
stroke.
As their caregivers and whānau can come along
too, it’s an opportunity for them to be around people who
have had a similar experience and work together on regaining
their confidence.
Grant survived a stroke two years
ago and as a result had speech and language difficulties. He
was 63 at the time and had just started the business
Taranaki Pet Foods. He says he runs the group for wellbeing
and it’s his way of giving back to those who helped
him.
“I initially joined the group a year ago because
I thought it was a good idea, and now I chair it. It’s
about looking at people as a person and not as a stroke
victim, we focus on everything else about us and what
we’re good at,” Grant says.
“I count myself as one
of the lucky ones as I’m doing well with my speech and
language now. I owe so much to so many people at the
hospital. I know it’s their job, but they do it so well
and so caringly. Helping to run this group is my way to give
a little bit back.”
The group sessions are different
each time, but always start with sharing a positive that has
happened in the past week. Grant’s latest update was that
he’s started planting mushrooms and it’s going well.
Then the group move onto a range of different activities to
help improve their language and speech challenges. These
include things like reading comprehension with real-world
news events, word anagrams, guess the word, story creation,
discussion questions and matching tasks.
The idea for
the community group and asking Grant as a patient, to help
run it, came from Kayley Williamson, Speech-Language
Therapist at Te Whatu Ora Taranaki who has seen firsthand
the isolating effects chronic speech or language impairments
can have on people after a stroke.
“These groups make
a real difference in the lives of our patients and their
families,” says Kayley. “The benefits we see meeting other
people with similar issues are improved mood, increased
confidence personally and in a group setting, as well as
functional improvements in people’s speech and language
skills. It also gives carers and family ideas around how to
best communicate with these people to support their
conversation.”
Kayley says Grant is a natural leader
and helper, so it was a no brainer for her to approach him
and ask if he was willing to team up with her and help with
running the group.
“This group is also providing Grant
with a real sense of purpose as he had to retire young due
to his stroke.”
There are now over 24 patients in the
North Taranaki group, and one also runs in South Taranaki
where they have six patients in the group.
As June is
aphasia awareness month, Grant is encouraging anyone with
aphasia or other speech and language impairments who might
be interested in joining the group to come
along.
“It’s a great excuse to get out and about.
I’ve improved since coming to the group and notice others
have improved too. We have a ball, give each other a bit of
stick and there’s always a cup of tea and cake on
offer.”
For more information on joining this group,
people can contact the SLT Department at Te Whatu Ora
Taranaki on 06 753
7748.
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