May health programing ideas – brought to you by The Pulse, part of the Gale Health and Wellness Resource Center.
Stroke is the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of serious long-term disability in the United States. In fact, every 40 seconds someone has a stroke in the United States. Community awareness is especially vital in the case of stroke because recognizing the signs of stroke and getting help immediately can drastically minimize the effects of a stroke. Too often symptoms are ignored. Lifestyle changes can decrease the risk of having a stroke in the first place.
By promoting American Stroke Month / National High Blood Pressure Month this May, you can make a difference. Promoting it will be easy with these free resources and with information from Gale Health and Wellness Resource Center.:
- Quick and Easy: printable coloring pages and other activities for children and teens.
- Featured Resources: books for children and their caregivers and links to reliable online information
- Book Club: adult book club ideas
- Tie In: ideas for library programs
- Community Resources: local agencies to contact
- Publicity Resources: free resources to help you publicize American Stroke Month / National High Blood Pressure Month at your library through social networking sites or traditional printed materials
- Fun Stuff: links to interactive websites and apps
Quick and Easy
Coloring Pages:
- Mrs. Pepper and Mr. Salt
- Brain Map
- Fruit Coloring Pages
- Vegetable Coloring Pages
- Exercise is Fun! Track Your Move It Minutes
- Human Heart coloring page from Crayola
Activity Pages:
Printables for Adults
- Blood Pressure Tracker from the American Heart Association
- Stroke Fact Sheets from the American Heart Association / American Stroke Association
- Printable Guides from The Power to End Stroke
- Family Reunion Toolkit from the Power to End Stroke. Includes Family Tree History worksheet and Stroke Awareness Survey
Featured Resources
Books for Adults
Reliable Online Information for Adults:
- American Heart Association: HeartHub for Patients: High Blood Pressure
- American Heart Association: Understanding Blood Pressure
- American Stroke Association: Warning Signs of a Stroke
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Stroke
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Division for Heart Disease Control and Prevention
- Get Healthy Harlem: Do You Know the Signs of a Stroke?
- Medline Plus: High Blood Pressure
- MedlinePlus: Stroke
- National Institutes of Health: What is High Blood Pressure?
- National Institutes of Health: Know Stroke
- National Institutes of Health: What is a Stroke?
- National Stroke Association: Stroke News
Reliable Online Information for Children and Teens:
- KidsHealth: Stroke
- Kids Health: Hypertension
Book Club
Book ConnectionTM – Book Clubs to Help Stroke Victims
Book Clubs are being used as a therapeutic tool for stroke victims with aphasia: the loss of abilities like reading, writing, speaking, and comprehending. In 1999 the California Center for Aphasia started Book ConnectionTM, a book club program for stroke victims with aphasia. More information as well as a facilitator’s manual and tools to facilitate Book Connection programs are available at the Book ConnectionTM website.
Memoir Book Club for Adults: Shadows Bright as Glass by Amy Ellis Nutt (Simon & Schuster, 2011)
This memoir is the story of Jon Sarkin, a Chiropractor who suffers a stroke.
From the Publisher: “When he awoke, he was a different man. Before the stroke, he was a calm, disciplined chiropractor, a happily married husband and father of a newborn son. Now he was transformed into a volatile and wildly exuberant obsessive, seized by a manic desire to create art, devoting virtually all his waking hours to furiously drawing, painting, and writing poems and letters to himself . . . . In a beautifully crafted narrative, award-winning journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Ellis Nutt interweaves Sarkin’s remarkable story with a fascinating tour of the history of and latest findings in neuroscience . . . . Nutt brings vividly to life pivotal moments of discovery in neuroscience, from the shocking “rebirth” of a young girl hanged in 1650 to the first autopsy of an autistic savant’s brain, and the extraordinary true stories of people whose personalities and cognitive abilities were dramatically altered by brain trauma, often in shocking ways.”
- Chapter 1
- Jon Sarkin’s Website
- Jon Sarkin’s Art
- Jon Sarkin: Accidental Artist
- Memoir Reading Group Guide
- Video: Interviews with the Subject and Author
- About the Author
Tie Ins
“Stroke Ain’t No Joke”: Stroke Prevention Hip Hop for Kids
- Information about the Hip Hop Doc and Hip Hop Health
- Sound Track of “Stroke Ain’t No Joke“
- Comic Book Sample “Stroke Ain’t No Joke”
- Public Service Announcement – Cartoon Video – “Stroke Ain’t No Joke”
- Hip Hop Stroke Brain Attack Word Search
- Hip Hop Stroke Brain Map
- Hip Hop Stroke Quiz
More Stroke Related Programming Ideas for Children and Teens
- Make a Food Pyramid Necklace or Bracelet
- Play Nutrition Bingo with Custom Bingo Cards
- Do a Twist on Tag and Play Veggie Tag
- Host Your Own Food Fear Factor
- Throw a Nutrition Trivia Night with These Great Nutrition Trivia Questions
Community Resources
- Find your state’s American Heart Association advocacy contact.
- Stroke Certified Hospitals
- 31 Days of Power Community Events
- Sodium Reduction in Communities programs
- We Can! (Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity and Nutrition) programs near you
- Wise Woman programs near you
Publicity Resources
- Know Stroke / National Institutes of Health
- Public Service Announcement: “Stroke Ain’t No Joke”
- Power Sunday Toolkit
Fun Stuff
Add these interesting and helpful interactive links to your library’s website, Facebook page, or Twitter feed:
For Children
- Action Packed Online Arcade Games and Food Adventures for Kids from Nourish Interactive
- Cartoon Video - Cartoon Video – “Stroke Ain’t No Joke”
For Adults
- Family Tree History from The Power to End Stroke / American Stroke Association
- Quiz: Can You Escape the “Silent Killer”? from the American Heart Association
- Quiz: The Scoop on Sodium from the American Heart Association
- Quiz: Test Your High Blood Pressure IQ from the American Heart Association
- Quiz: Warning Stroke Ahead from the American Heart Association
- High Blood Pressure Risk and Lifestyle Change Calculator
- Numbers That Count from the American Heart Association
- HeartHub Video Library: Stroke Warning Signs from the American heart Association
- HeartHub Video Library: Taking Your Blood Pressure at Home from the American Heart Association
- HeartHub Video Library: Kids and Sleep from the American Heart Association
- Interactive Health Tracker: Heart 360 from the American Heart Association
