Headway Natal

Headway Newsletter : March 2004

Editorial

Thankyou to all those kind and thoughtful people who have renewed their membership of Headway this month. The support has been an enormous boost to both our finances and to our confidence and we feel encouraged to continue to do our best to make Headway even more of a success than ever. If you haven't visited us yet, make a plan to do so - we love having visitors as we want them to experience the warmth and love of Headway-Natal. Veronica

Welcome to…… Neville Ambler, Nerisha Govender and Jezerial Bisoonlal who joined the Headway family this month.

Condolences…
It has been a sad month for us all at Headway as we lost three of our members - Neville Barker, Roly Saunders and Marcia Schroeder. We extend our sincere condolences to the families of these beloved people.

General Meeting in March

Our speaker on Friday 5 March was Bruce King whose topic was "The Brain and how it Functions". Bruce gave us a presentation on the brain using the model paid for last year by the Rotary Anns of Westville. There is quite a story of setbacks in the purchasing of this model - it had to be ordered from the US and after a long delay was duly delivered only for it to be discovered that the delivered model was not the same as the ordered one. Months passed and another model arrived at Headway - again the wrong one! The saga continued until 6 weeks ago when the correct brain model was finally in our possession. Although our patience was wearing thin, we were somewhat mollified by the supplier compensating us by charging a lot less than the price tag on the model. So, every member of staff was keen to see the model proving its worth in helping to explain the complexity of the brain and we all crowded into the Team Teaching Room along with our Friday attendees and a fair number of other interested people.

Bruce's credentials are impressive. He has a degree in Psychology and is currently studying for his honours degree specialising in Clinical Neuropsychology. He has just heard that he has been accepted to study for his PhD at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada. The first part of Bruce's talk was an explanation of the different parts of the brain and their functions. It would be pointless to record here all the facts we learned about the brain but the overriding message was that the brain is incredibly complicated and that it is no wonder that, when there is injury or damage, the effects can be far-reaching and sometimes catastrophic. When you start talking in numbers, too, it becomes mind-boggling - the brain has 180 billion neurons each with 15 000 different functions!

The question and answer session was perhaps the most revealing and many present wanted to know about "accommodation". Bruce assured us that, although the brain is divided into left and right hemispheres which each have different functions, a lot of functions are mirrored in both hemispheres and so accommodation is possible - the counterpart on the other side of the brain can take up functions previously carried out by the damaged area. Furthermore, there is a large degree of cortical plasticity in regions of the brain, which aids recovery after damage. We also learnt about the complexity of the "executive" functions of the brain - the pre-frontal cortex with its multiple connections is known as the "organ of civilisation" as it guides all forms of behaviours. As most survivors of brain injury need medication to control seizures, there were a number of questions on this aspect from the gathering; apparently, seizures are known as "idiopathic" since the experts don't really know what causes them.

Bruce was asked whether it is true that we only use10% of our brains - new research reveals that this is not strictly true and that, in fact, all areas of the brain are in operation at all times (which may or may not be reassuring to some!). Bruce also confirmed for us what we at Headway are all aware of - every brain is unique and every injury is unique. We marvelled at Bruce's ability to remember all the details of the most complex organ in our bodies and are very grateful to him for sharing his expertise and knowledge. This young man will go far in world of neuropyschology! A reminder that our General Meetings are now held

EVERY FIRST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH FROM 11H00 TO 12H15 - and all are welcome!! See below!

General Meeting in May

Have you ever donated blood? Have you ever needed a blood transfusion? Have you heard of the Sunflower Fund? On Friday 7 May, Ianthe Exall, publicity officer of the South African Blood Transfusion Service will be out guest speaker. She will be sharing her knowledge on a vast range of facts about "blood", blood typing, the life-saving and life-giving details about our blood, and whether or not we can still be donors after a head injury.

Activity Programme
The OT Department ensures that our attendees are kept busy and active every morning with activities, talks and outings. Highway environmentalist Jean Senogles gave a fun and informative talk on Friday 19th to the guys, centred around her pet Indian Mynah bird that she rescued and reared. The Kitchen Gang produced a very tasty Breyani and baked a large box cake to be taken up to Zimele Molweni for their Easter Service (which was conducted by none other than our attendee Mandla Mkhize). The cooks also spent a morning assembling their Recipe Files so that they can try out and perfect the dishes they learn in the Headway kitchen. Rain on the morning of Friday 12th put paid to outing plans so the attendees played "Odd Ball Olympics" in the Physiogym.

Ten-Pin Bowling Challenge
The Big Challenge took place on Friday 26 March with 5 teams participating. Although the attendees had been practising every Monday at the Pavilion facility, due to renovations and extensions the management was unable to accommodate the Headway party on the day and the challenge had to be hastily moved to Gateway Shopping Centre. The staff members there were very helpful (particularly a young lady named Jamaica) and all the teams enjoyed a very happy morning. It was wonderful to see everyone joining in - sending the bowling balls down the lanes from their wheelchairs or balancing on crutches, and many right-handers having to co-ordinate the movement using their left arm. Brave and determined every last one! For anyone who hasn't been to a 10 Pin Bowling "Alley" in recent years, it is quite an eye-opener as the scoring is now done electronically, so it makes it easier to concentrate on just going for that elusive "strike"! Our teams had unlikely names such as "The Good Girls", "The Bad Guys", "Amabokaboka" and "Shaya Zonke", but it was "The King Pins" who gained the most points and won the prizes. Best overall was our OTA Les whose strength and athletic build seemed to be a good combination (he had also had lots of practice during the weekly outings to the Pavilion!) followed closely by attendee Dennis Smith who also seems to be a natural at this sport. Due to popular demand, it is hoped that another challenge will be organised later on in the year. Our thanks to OT Debbie for making this fun event possible.

PR Department
Rose McA gave a talk this month to the Hillcrest Women's Institute and Veronica represented Headway at a presentation to Victor Daitz.

Rotary Honours Outstanding People
Headway was invited to a special award ceremony hosted by the Rotary Club of Morningside to honour the late Victor Daitz. The Victor Daitz Foundation supports many charities including Headway and representatives from all the major NPO's were invited to the event held on Tuesday 9 March. It felt good to be rubbing shoulders with all the big guns in the world of charities and it was great to hear the story of Victor Daitz and the humble beginnings that resulted in the wealth of the Foundation today. Victor Daitz began his working life in the clothing trade and it was his strong sense of social responsibility that resulted in the Foundation being established from the interest on his investments. Victor's first donation to charity was from the interest gained on Pep Stores in West Street and he went on to give millions to charity. Although he died in his eighties in November 1999, the wonderful legacy of his generosity lives on in the Foundation. Morningside Rotary Club honoured this big-hearted man with a Paul Harris Fellowship award - the highest award in Rotary.

Westville Rotary Club was also handing out awards in March and two of our most special volunteers were the recipients. The article in the Highway Mail some months ago focussing on the Headway Sewing Group run by volunteer Rose Paterson, had been spotted by one of the Rotarians, who was impressed by this example of community spirit and felt it worthy of public acknowledgement. We were contacted for some background and insisted that Rose's husband, Stan, was not to be left out! So on Monday 29 March, Rose and Stan were invited to the Westville Rotary Club Dinner where they were both honoured and presented with Vocational Award Certificates. Stan and Rose have served Headway faithfully and regularly for 5 ½ years and they continue to devote many hours to helping us. We estimate that Stan has saved us thousands of rands in carrying out the ever-necessary maintenance jobs that need doing at Headway House, as well as teaching woodwork and working one-on-one with our attendees whenever we ask him. Rose's work with the Sewing Group is well-documented (and we report that the Headway quilt is almost complete and looking stunning!). Well done to you both - we are proud of you!

Goodbye to Les
It was with heavy hearts that we bade farewell at the end of March to our Occupational Therapy Assistant Lesley Vezi. Lesley was employed by Headway in April 1998, when he was only 19 years old, as a driver and general helper. At the end of 1999, Headway gave Lesley the opportunity to study to be an OT Assistant at Ekuhlengeni on a one day a week release basis. The course was over two years and necessitated a fair amount of input from our Occupational Therapists in supervision and training of the students as well as some sacrifice on the part of the Headway staff in taking over Lesley's duties on his study and practical experience days (we also paid the tuition fees). This sacrifice paid dividends. Les proved to be the best student on the course and quickly used the skills he was learning to help at our centre. When he graduated top of the class in December 2001 we were puffed up with pride.

Last year Les gave us a scare when he said he was going through a series of interviews and aptitude tests to join the Fire Fighting Service - it was the shake-up we needed to realise just how important his skills were to Headway, but we also understood that he was feeling as though he needed a change. Luckily we were able to provide that change by giving him one day a week off from Headway duties so that he could work with the Special Needs children at Zimele. As Les lives in Molweni and knows many of the children at the centre, he was very happy to take on the challenge and immediately brought about some positive changes. Many of the Zimele children are teenage boys and are cared for by women volunteers, and having Les working with them was very beneficial. Les taught them woodwork and pottery and surprised us all with his wealth of innovative ideas and his exceptional organisational skills.

So for us at Headway and for the Zimele staff and children it was a sad day when we heard that Les had accepted a position as OTA at the new Afrox Rehab Unit at Entabeni Hospital. Les was sent off in grand Headway style with farewell parties on two consecutive days at the end of March - there were many tears shed but the sadness was offset by enormous pride when we acknowledged how much Les had learnt and how much he had grown as a person in the 6 years he had been with Headway.

Hamba Kahle Les!
Immediately stepping into Les's shoes is Zipho Mkhize who has now increased her days working at Headway from one to four. Zipho trained as an Occupational Therapy Assistant at the same time as Lesley and has divided her time between Headway and Zimele and her job at Beads and Beyond in Hillcrest. Zipho is already well known and loved by all at Headway and her input is important to us and our attendees. Also assisting in the OT department (but with lots of learning still to do) is Walter Gwamanda, Lesley' cousin who has been volunteering and "shadowing" Les since January this year. Walter has had some problems recently and we felt the urge to give him a chance to find a meaningful career. So … with our blessing and financial assistance, Walter has embarked this week on an intensive course as a Caregiver to be followed (if it all works out) by his enrolment in an Occupational Therapy Assistant course to commence in mid-year at UDW. (Note: Some funding has been donated this month by Campbell, Bernstein & Irving for "training and skills transference" and if there are any readers who would also like to contribute towards this fund, we would be most grateful.)

News from Past Attendees
We were very pleased to receive an email from Paul Bateman this month. Paul was an attendee at Headway for approximately 4 years and became something of a legend as he gave talks to dozens of schools on the perils of drug addiction. Paul moved down to Plettenberg Bay in 2002 to be near his parents and life has been very good for him. The best news is that Paul's fitness levels have improved dramatically since the move. Despite being severely sight impaired, he is able to walk alone to the beach, crosses two roads without traffic lights (using his white stick) and then has a long run along the beach where he is greeted by other joggers with whom he has developed a good support system. His friends back at Headway may not recognise him as he is 8 kgs lighter! Paul is also kept very busy with his Church group and assisting at a shelter for street children. He still loves the radio and his music CD's and enjoys listening to sport and doing crossword puzzles. Paul's parents report that he goes to a nightclub called "Flashbacks" on Friday nights and usually arrives home as the birds are waking up. It is so good to hear from Paul and to know that he is doing well.

Donations
After a very lean month for donations in February, it has been comforting to receive a lot more support this month. Membership renewals, often accompanied by a donation, have been filling up the coffers and we do hope to hear from more of you in the weeks to come. Don't worry if you have lost the form we sent out last month - just call us or send your subscription and we will ensure that your particulars are filled in on a form, filed, and your receipt posted to you. Our legal friend Mike Friedman of Friedman & Associates added on R450.00 to his membership payment and the "Anony Mouse" visited again in the form of two other generous "add-ons" of R450.00 each. W.L. Hancocks Gifts Trust donated R2 500.00 and Victor Daitz Foundation sent R12 500 which was the amount we had been promised last year to pay for the wheelchair carrier when we purchased the Toyota Condor. Cooke & Son Manufacturing sent R1 000.00 in memory of Rita Draper and Maurine Fischer contributed R50.00 in memory of Peter Boswell. At Peter's funeral, his wife Joan asked the congregation to donate to Headway to honour Peter's life and R500.00 was collected. Kathy Tudge donated R200.00. Our warmest thanks to all these generous people.

More Thankyous
Rick Millard of MMC Engineers in Westville, passed on his Konica photocopy machine which is in perfect condition and working beautifully. Thank you Rick for thinking of us. Warren Bailey who is a Youth Intern at Westville Methodist Church delivered a food hamper for us to raffle and at R1 a ticket it is an easy fundraiser (we will be doing the draw on Thursday 8 April at our Buns and Bonnets Easter Celebration).

Tony Devlin kindly passed on a knee brace he no longer needed and It's Africa sent a couple of boxes of their much sought-after T-shirts. We also thank all the good people who delivered jumble, books, material, refuse bags, garden pots and even basketball hoops. As you all know we never refuse any contribution and always promise to find a home for anything given to Headway.

Fund Raising
Those who have to count the money in our collection tins do tend to niggle a bit about what a fiddly job it is, and Lionel blanches a little when he has to cart the bags of brown coins up to the bank and face the bleak looks from the cashiers! - but - there is no getting away from the fact that this "funny money" has its place in our efforts to raise funds. This month we thank the following for filling up their tins: Bread Ahead (R104.33), Reservoir Hills Family Butchery (R50.51), Hillcrest Motors (R124.80), Di Hepple (R102.05), Connie Smith (R71.29), G Letchmiah (R21.22) and Fego Caffé (R22.15).

The Headway Shop made a profit of R1 080.00 and membership subs brought in R1 700.00. Without the support of so many kind people it would not be possible for the shop to continue to show such a good profit each month - a reminder that we would love your old clothes, bed and table linen, books, ornaments, bric-a-brac and just about anything!

Information Corner
Talking to a Friend
If you are thinking of visiting a friend shortly after *he has had a stroke, you may be apprehensive, particularly if you know he is having trouble in finding the words he wants. This is an extract from advice given in a little book "Lost for Words: written by a Senior Speech Therapist in New Zealand. It should help to increase your understanding and give you confidence to speak to anyone who has problems in communicating following a stroke or brain injury. *(for "he" please read he/she)

The main thing to remember when you are with someone who is "lost for words" is that he is your friend and you are visiting him. Concentrate your thoughts on your friend, not on his or her disability. Just be yourself - an open, kindly, smiling person who people like to be with. If you are feeling anxious, do your best to conceal it, but there is no need to think you should be consciously bright with the aim of cheering him up. To be a quiet, receptive person is better. Speak of the things you usually do - but use your common sense as to whether you say too much or little - depending on his state of health.

When someone is having trouble with words, it is not always easy to know if he is understanding fully or not. However, it is fairly safe to assume he is having a little trouble at least, so keep your speech clear and direct and not too fast. Remember, too, a brain that has been affected by a stroke nearly always takes longer to comprehend fully what is heard, so allow pauses in your speaking for the meaning to be absorbed.

If you have others with you, care should be taken to see that people do not speak of him in his presence as if he were not there. Some people tend to do this unconsciously, but it must be guarded against. When a person cannot speak it is often assumed, in error, that he cannot understand. This may well be true, but, against that, he may be comprehending fully - or at least sufficiently well to hear things said of himself or his illness which can remain as painful memories for years.

Time is the key to success. Some stroke survivors will tend to go to pieces when even a shadow of hurry is present so one must appear to have all the time in the world. If your friend tries to speak, endeavour to listen for a long time and with no sign of impatience. If it appears he is not going to succeed, inquire if he would like you to help. If so, say "Well, let's first discover what you want to tell me about - is it your home?.. work?.. hospital? … leaving him plenty of time to respond. If you discover what it is, then, by asking yes/no questions and by watching his face, you can sometimes get the message. He may sometimes lose track of what he intended to say and often may start a sentence but not finish it or even say the same word or phrase over and over. It is important to get your friend's message, if you can but there is no need to feel guilty when you fail. It is valuable though, for him to see you are willing to try and happy to listen. When you don't succeed, then say a reassuring "let's try again later, shall we?" or something like that. To try to help by putting words into his mouth is seldom wise as so often it is the wrong word and irritating to the patient.

Do go out of your way to preserve the dignity of your friend and be careful to do nothing that he could interpret as indicating loss of intelligence or status in life. There is no need to keep talking all the time either; remember he will probably tire quickly. For that reason, short visits are usually better than longer ones, unless you are a close friend and can sit knitting or reading, or holding his hand in companionable silence.

Stop Press
Is there anyone who could help with driving our Condor in the mornings and/or at lunch time? Please contact Lionel if you are able to help.
Plants for Sale! We have a large number of plants in pots and plastic sleeves going dirt cheap. Don't miss this opportunity for bargains!
Wanted! Zimele Centre for Physically & Mentally Challenged Children is trying to set up a sewing group and urgently need sewing machines in working order. They would also love a Television so that they can watch the Educational Programmes available to schools.

Forthcoming Event
On Friday 7 May Headway is holding a Charity Lunch to raise funds. The Theme of the lunch is "It's Just an Illlusion - or is it?" and will feature entertainment and a three-course lunch. Don't miss out - get your tickets early!!