St Luke's Hospital, Singapore - Support For Stroke Victims

Support For Stroke Victims

In 2004, St Luke’s Hospital, together with the Social Service Training Institute (SSTI) and the Neuro-Developmental Treatment Association (NDTA) Incorporated, organized a course to help adult stoke victims. The Neuro-Developmental Treatment is a new treatment concept that enhances stroke victims’ rate of recovery and helps them to achieve a better quality of life. This new concept was created by Dr Karel and Berta Bobath. The course instructors were Ms Cathy Hazard and Ms Teddy Parkinson. The course was attended by 24 physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists from 13 different organizations.

The Stroke Club, a patient support group at St Luke’s Hospital, held its first meeting on 25 June 2005. The Club is the hospital’s collaborative effort with the Singapore National Stroke Association (SNSA) to provide stroke survivors and caregivers with an avenue of support. The Stroke Club’s collaboration with St Luke’s Hospital ended in 2007. Also, a new stroke therapy service was introduced in 2007 to help stroke victims recover the functional use of their hands using the Constraint-Induced Movement therapy. This new therapy was developed by Dr Edward Taub of the Taub Clinic at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital, United States. St Luke’s Hospital purchased the therapy package from the Taub Clinic. The course fee is S$600, with the hospital subsidizing all its patients. The therapy is offered as a 10 day programme with 3 half hour long sessions each day. During the therapy sessions, patients play video games and perform simple actions repeatedly with the aim of restoring movement in their affected arm. This is achieved by restricting movement in their unaffected arm. St Luke’s is the only hospital that offers this therapy service in Singapore.