Ballinasloe based leading medical devices company Surmodics have just announced a unique community partnership with local heart and stroke charity, Croí. Commencing this year and continuing for the next five years, Surmodics have committed a significant financial contribution to Croí by way of support for Croí’s out-of-hospital stroke support programme.
Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. In Ireland, an estimated 10,000 people have a stroke-related event every year with as many as 7,000 per year requiring hospitalisation. There are an estimated 30,000 people living in the community with disability as a result of stroke, making it the biggest cause of acquired disability in Ireland.
Since opening its centre five years ago in Newcastle Galway, Croí has broadened its mission to include stroke. Over the past few years Croí has been developing out-of-hospital supports for stroke survivors and their carers. Tom Greaney, Chief Operating Officer at Surmodics, commented:
“We look forward to working closely with Croí to help build their out-of-hospital stroke support programme. This partnership is a fantastic opportunity for Surmodics to support Croí’s mission to prevent disease, save lives and promote wellbeing, a mission that Surmodics as an organisation also shares. We are proud to support Croí and play a part in the great work that they do for our community,” says Greaney.
Welcoming the Surmodics 5-year pledge to support Croí, Kevin O’Reilly, Chairman of Croí, said “We are indebted to Surmodics for this very generous and significant commitment. We aim to utilise this contribution by developing and expanding our stroke survivor post-hospital discharge support offerings in the area of education, carer support, risk factor management, survivor empowerment, and communications rehabilitation.
We aim to facilitate monthly community stroke support meetings in Galway and Mayo and we plan to design, develop and test an evidence based self-management and self-care programme to help stroke survivors live the best possible life they can.”
Mr O’Reilly went on to say that “In recent years, there have been significant advances made in hospital-based stroke care with many more people today surviving a stroke.
The significant needs of stroke survivors and their carers post hospital discharge however are very varied, and unfortunately at both a local and national level, community based supports are greatly in need of resources.
Stroke survivors have huge needs in term of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and psychological support and Croí’s efforts in this regard are in early stage development.
This generous gift from Surmodics will greatly assist our work in this regard and will make a real difference to the lives of hundreds of people impacted by stroke in our community. We are indebted to the management and staff at Surmodics for partnering with us on this important work, and it is great to see a successful local company getting involved in their local community in this way.”