A few weeks ago, I received a photo from Ukraine. It showed a group of stroke physicians and nurses gathered inside a dimly lit room – concrete walls, a makeshift projector, and a banner that read “Khmelnytskyi – First Angels Region in Ukraine”. You could almost miss the detail that made the photo unforgettable: in the background, a staircase leading to the street, and just beyond it, the ever-present risk of war.
They had chosen to hold their celebration in a bomb shelter. Not because it was symbolic – but because it was safe.
It stopped me in my tracks. In a place where daily life is measured in moments of calm between sirens, a community still found a way to come together, to celebrate, and to reaffirm their commitment to patients. That kind of determination humbles me. It reminds me of what it truly means to belong to the Angels community.
And they are not alone. This past quarter, I’ve seen that same spirit in so many places. In Poland, a team in the Olsztyński region turned solidarity into strength. In Portugal’s Algarve region, fractured systems gave way to collaboration, and paramedics once underestimated were now met with standing ovations.
There’s a moment in every movement when the impossible becomes inevitable. It’s the moment a nurse in Pretoria turns a patient after arranging a pillow under their arm and whispers, “You’re going to walk again.” It’s the moment a paramedic in Slovakia shaves more seconds off on-scene time, not for a trophy, but because “the patient deserves it”. It’s the moment a doctor in Colombia looks at a blank RES-Q dashboard and thinks, “Let’s fill it with hope.”
We are witnessing movements – both quiet and loud – across the globe. These are not just stories of stroke care improvement – they are stories of people refusing to accept the way things are and choosing instead to imagine what could be.
In the latest edition of The Angels Journey, you can read about those choices – about Dr Wiebren Duim’s decades-long journey, about Zsófia Reichert’s courage in Hungary to push beyond her comfort zone, carried – literally – by the paramedics she inspired, and about the continued ripple effect from Spain’s Almería region, now inspiring transformation far beyond its borders.
You can read about Moldova, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Brazil, the Czech Republic, and many others – places where change is happening, not because it’s easy, but because someone decided it was necessary.
This work is not always visible. It rarely makes headlines. But every time someone picks up a stopwatch, delivers a training, fills in a RES-Q form, or simply says, “We can do better” – they’re helping to rewrite the future for stroke patients.
So, thank you – for your work, your courage, and your belief in what’s possible.
You can download The Angels Journey here.
