League of Friends' gift for stroke patients

A large proportion of the patients in Egerton Ward at the Conquest Hospital receiving care after suffering strokes are from Bexhill, consultant Dr M.J.H. Rahmani told representatives of the League of Friends of Bexhill Hospital on Wednesday.

Staff at the unit had arranged a photo-call to thank the League for the gift of £8,927.

The money purchased 10 of the wheeled Invacare MSS Flo-tech chairs. The remotely-operated chairs have radically improved the opportunities for speeding patients’ recovery and rehabilitation, as Dr Rahmani and colleagues explained.

Already, the chairs are in full use with daily morning and afternoon sessions.

Stroke patient Samuel Goodsell, who was using one of the chairs when the visitors arrived, happily agreed to pose for the camera with League chairman Stuart Earl, League social committee chairman Harriet Chapman, Dr Rahmani, Ward Sister Marion Bull and Physiotherapist Gail Porter.

Gail Porter told the League representatives: “They are very good chairs. Patients have found them extremely useful. The fact that we are able to raise or lower them to suit the patients’ individual needs is so important.

“It means we can get people out of bed much earlier and into the chairs.

“The earlier we can get them into the chairs the better their rehabilitation.”

Dr Rahmani said: “The old chairs could not be adapted to individual patients’ needs and were difficult to handle. These are so much easier.

“Most of my patients come from Bexhill.”