Get involved in the campaign

The Irish Heart Foundation's Stroke Campaign

Stroke is a medical emergency. Ireland should provide the best care for people who are at risk of having a stroke and for those who have already had a stroke.

This campaign wants to stop strokes, save lives and support people who have already had strokes by calling for the development of high quality stroke services.

Thankfully, stroke is the most preventable of all diseases which affect the brain. Strokes can be prevented. Strokes can be treated.

By getting involved you can play your part in getting the stroke services Ireland needs.

5 facts about stroke

A stroke is a brain attack.
Stroke kills more than 2,000 people a year in Ireland – a higher death toll than from breast cancer, lung cancer and bowel cancer combined.
One third of the people in Ireland who have a stroke are under 65 years of age.
Stroke is the most common cause of physical disability in Irish adults.
One third of people who have a stroke will die, one third will have a disability and one third will make a full recovery.

Getting involved in this campaign

Throughout this campaign the Irish Heart Foundation will be:

Working hard to promote awareness of stroke among the general public and the media
Proposing solutions which could improve stroke services in Ireland
Meeting with decision-makers to explain what needs to be done to improve stroke services
Building a community of people who want action on stroke

But we can’t do it alone – we need you.

You can help by becoming a stroke advocate. Being an advocate means speaking up for people’s rights.

We believe people have a right to good quality care when they have a stroke and during their recovery. Help us to make it happen.

What could you do?

Campaigning is about asking for what is needed. If we don’t ask for stroke services, we won’t get stroke services.

Campaigning involves simple things that we can all do – talking about stroke, learning about stroke, spreading information to others and asking people in power to provide stroke services.

This Campain Centre provides ideas of the things you might like to do as part of the campaign.

This campaign is about YOU

The strongest part of this campaign will be the personal stories of people who have had strokes and of the people who love and care for them.

YOU

You want to raise awareness of stroke
You want to talk about your experiences
You want to make the situation better for people who have had strokes
You want to speak up for people who can’t speak for themselves
You want to encourage people in positions of power to provide stroke services
You want to bring about change
We all want better stroke services

If we all speak up for stroke we will create a movement and things will have to change.

What are we campaigning for?

What do we want? When do we want it?
We are asking people – regardless of whether their lives have yet been touched by stroke – to join our campaign and urge the Government to implement the measures that will eliminate avoidable death and disability from stroke.

Our Stroke Manifesto sets out the campaign's goals.

Download P DF of Irish Heart Foundation Stroke Manifesto

Campaigns are built on facts and personal experiences

Before you start campaigning it is a good idea to collect your thoughts about stroke.

Ask yourself some questions:

What do I think is wrong with stroke services in Ireland?
What needs to be done?
How do I think the situation could be improved?

Gather the facts

Facts help to explain why an issue matters and how it affects people’s lives.

Build on our 5 facts about stroke with information about the stroke services available in your area. Find out about local stroke services by talking to other people you know who have had strokes and asking your GP and your local hospital.

Add your own experiences to the facts and you have a powerful case:

What kind of services did you / or the person close to you get when you had a stroke?
How quickly did you get the care you needed?
What services did you need but couldn’t get access to?
How has your life been affected by stroke?

Politicians – Starting your campaign at the top

Politicians represent the people in their local areas. So, your local politicians work for you.

Most politicians want to know about the issues which concern the people they represent. If they start to hear about the same issue, such as stroke, from a number of different people they will realise they need to act.

Your local decision-makers:

County Councillors – represent their constituents at local level and are members of the Town or County Council. They work on local issues such as water, waste and libraries. They do not have much power in the area of health as health policy is mainly decided at a national level. However, they often discuss health care issues at council meetings.
TDs – represent their constituents at national level. They spend Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the Dáil where they discuss and vote on new laws and sit on committees which consider different policy areas, such as health. On Monday and Fridays they work in their constituencies.
Senators – work in the Senate where they discuss laws and suggest changes. They also sit on committees with TDs.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) – represent people from their constituency at European level. In the European Parliament they discuss and vote on new European laws and sit on committees working on areas such as health.

If you are unsure of the names of your local Councillors call the Franchise Section of your local Town/County Council. For the names of your local TDs call Dáil Éireann at (01) 618 3000. For the names of your MEPs call the European Parliament Information Office in Ireland at (01) 605 7900. If you can’t get the information you need, give us call at (01) 6685001 and we will be happy to find out for you.

Letting them know – letter writing

Writing a letter to a politican can make a real difference. It can make someone in a position of power sit up and think. Telling decision-makers about your experiences and your ideas for how stroke services can be improved can make them take an interest in stroke.

It doesn’t have to be a long letter. Keep it short and to the point. Tell them who you are, what you are looking for and why you are contacting them.

Remember, what is important to a politician is that you are a member of their constituency and a potential voter.

Be specific about what action you would like the politician to take. For example, you may be writing to ask for a meeting with them to discuss stroke services, or you might be asking them to raise stroke services as an issue within their political party and to act to improve the situation.

Read a sample of the kind of letter you could send to a politician.

Take a cross-party approach

Always try to contact politicians from all the different political parties represented in your area. It is essential that all parties are aware of the need to improve stroke services.

Follow-up

After you have sent your letter, don’t forget to follow up after 1-2 weeks. Call the politician’s office to make sure they received the letter and ask if you can have an update on what they have done about the issues you raised in your letter.

Where to contact them?

Councillors can be contacted by writing to them at their Town/County Council.
TDs and Senators often have offices in their constituencies and will advertise their contact details in the local papers. You can also contact each TD and Senator at Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
MEPs often have offices in Ireland (see the local press or their websites for details). They can also be contacted at European Parliament, ASP 12G146, rue Wiertz, 1047 Brussels, Belgium.

Meeting Politicians

Face-to-face

Often the best way to get someone to understand your issue is to meet them face-to-face. You can organise to meet the politicians in your area by asking for a meeting, or by attending one of their constituency clinics.

Politicians hold regular constituency clinics to meet with people in their local area to talk about their problems and see how they can help. The times of constituency clinics are often advertised in local papers, on their website or at their constituency offices.

Plan ahead

Before you go to your meeting, plan what you would like to discuss. Bring along a one-page description of your issue to the meeting that they can keep and refer to in the future. This should include the key information – your name and contact details and the key points you are making about stroke services.

By providing them with your contact details they can come back to you to give you updates or ask you questions. You could end up becoming their voluntary advisor on stroke issues!

Meeting must-dos

At the meeting you should:

Introduce yourself and where you are from – make it clear that you are a member of their constituency
Give them a brief summary of your personal experiences of stroke
Tell them what you would like to be done to improve stroke services in Ireland
Ask them to raise the issue of stroke services within their political party and to work towards the development of stroke services
Thank them for their time
Ask them to keep you updated on the progress they make
Don’t be disheartened if instead of meeting with the politician directly, you meet with their officials and advisors. Politician’s advisors can look into issues and give advice to politicians about what they can do about an issue.

‘Thank you for meeting me, have you any update?’

Follow-up the meeting with a reminder letter or a phone call, thanking them for meeting with you and asking them for an update on their progress.

When opportunity knocks on your door

Sometimes an opportunity just knocks on your door! Next time a politician calls to your door to talk about what they are doing for your area, take your chance to ask them what they are doing to improve stroke services.

You could keep a copy of our Stroke Manifesto by your door and give it to them. If you would like copies of the Manifesto please email advocacy@irishheart.ie.

Make them stand up and take notice of stroke by asking them some questions:

'Do you believe in providing services for people who have had strokes?'
'Do you think it is acceptable that there are 500 avoidable deaths from strokes in Ireland every year?'
'What will you and your party do to make sure that people who have strokes can get the best quality treatment?'

Contacting the media and starting a local media debate

As part of your campaign you could try to get your local media interested in stroke.

The local media in your area (local radio, local papers) are interested in stories that have happened to local people and issues that affect their area.

You should be on the lookout for local radio presenters and journalists who cover health issues and human interest stories. They might be particularly interested in talking to you about your experience of stroke.

Local Newspapers: get the stroke debate down on paper

You could write a letter to the editor of your local paper telling them about your experience of stroke. Ask them to cover issues relating to stroke in their paper. They could run an opinion piece about the level of stroke services or could include an interview with a person who has had a stroke.

You could also write a letter about your experience of stroke for the ‘Letters Page’ of the paper. When you are writing a letter which you would like to see published in the paper, you need to keep it short and to the point. Letters often have a better chance of being published if you relate the issue to the local area.

Read a sample of the type of letter you could send to your local media.

Local radio: get the stroke debate on air

You could contact the chat show on your local radio station and suggest that they hold a discussion on stroke.

If you, or someone you know, would be happy to speak about their experiences of stroke on the air, you could also suggest that you would be willing to do an interview.

Spread the word and encourage more people to get involved

Campaigns are most successful when a large number of people get involved.

Spread the word about strokes and talk to other people in your local area who you think might be interested in campaigning – your family, work colleagues and people you know who have had a stroke. Encourage them to start meeting with politicians and contacting the local media.

Power to the people

Provide information about the campaign to people in your area who you think might be interested. Please contact us and we will send you copies of the manifesto, information booklets etc.

You could invite a small group to your home to discuss the need for stroke services and come up with ideas for the campaign.

You could organise a meeting in your local area to discuss local stroke services.

Campaigner’s quiz:

Questions to ask people to get them interested in stroke and encourage them to help...

Do you know how many people year die of strokes in Ireland? (2,000)
Do you know how many survivors of stroke there are living in Ireland? (30,000)
Do you think that services should be provided for people who have had strokes? (of course)
What can you do to make sure that people who have strokes can get the best quality treatment? (start campaigning)

Share your campaign ideas

Tell us

We would like to keep up-to-date about how campaigning is going across the country.

Let us know about how you are getting on:

Tell us what the politicians you have met and their responses.
Point out stroke articles in the press to us.
Remind us to listen in to your radio interview.
Invite us to your meetings.
Let us know what people are saying in your area so we can keep track of support for stroke services throughout the country.

Get creative

This campaign centre has just some ideas for how you can be an advocate for stroke services. We know you’ll come up with others. Please pass on your ideas to us and we can tell other people, helping this campaign to grow.

Help is here

We are here to help. We can provide you with brochures and factsheets, as well as advice and assistance.

You can contact us at:

Advocacy Team, Irish Heart Foundation, 4 Clyde Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4

Email: advocacy@irishheart.ie

Tel: 01 6685001