Community stories

St. Łukasz in Bolesławiec in Poland’s Lower Silesian region won a diamond award in less than 7 months of opening its stroke unit, scooping a second in the very next quarter. Consultant Anna Kiełkowska describes it as a hospital with an open heart, but when you get to know this team, you realise there are many open hearts beating together.

She didn’t just start a new job, she started a new life and joined a new family. A new consultant in Spain reports on the start of her mission to change outcomes for stroke patients in her country.

Last summer, a group of volunteers went from town to town and village to village to teach the locals what to do in emergencies – including stroke. For those who had donated their free time to this project, the 2022 marathon of the Transylvania Rescue Team Filiala Ciuc held a personal reward.

They live in different cultures, and in different time zones, but they have both felt the impact of stroke in their families, and are dedicated to giving stroke patients a second chance at life. We asked SOL PLAMENATZ, Angels team leader for Ecuador and Peru, to nominate a fellow consultant and ask her 10 questions. Sol nominated BAYAN ALFOQHA, Angels consultant in Jordan, who responded with questions of her own. Here is their conversation:

April 2023 marks one year since the Angels Initiative received a warm welcome from the stroke community in Greece. A landmark meeting that took place around the halfway mark gave impetus to the advancement of stroke care quality in Europe’s second-oldest population.

The initial goal at this hospital in North Sumatra was to reduce their door-to-needle time to below 60 minutes. It took them just six months to reach an average door-to-needle time of 19 minutes and win the first of two WSO Angels diamond awards.