I have been a Stroke Ambassador in Oxfordshire for six years. I got involved with our charity after I retired, mainly because my father had a stroke. The role is varied in terms of how much time is spent and the different types of work I do.
As a Stroke Ambassador, my role is to represent our charity and stroke in my local community by raising awareness and delivering presentations, and promoting prevention and campaigning. It's a very proactive role and I'm trusted to source my own activities, with some guidance from local teams.
I feel I am contributing to the overall objectives of the charity. Such activities post-retirement give life a clear purpose and the positive feedback encourages me to be more proactive in extending the role to more and more groups
This month has been interesting. We have a major lead from Skanska, an international company involved in construction and project management, who have asked for three stroke awareness presentations in June. Due to various reasons, there are two of us who will prepare and deliver these presentations, so it's a very busy time. It is very challenging to make initial contacts but very rewarding when you receive positive feedback.
In the longer term, I have recently made contact with another Stroke Ambassador in Essex who appears to have made good progress giving stoke awareness presentations to schools. I plan to make an approach to some local schools but have decided to leave it until August/September - exam season is not a good time to make an initial contact. I would love to hear from anyone else who has experience in this area.
Meanwhile, I hope to see more Ambassadors using our internal Discussion forum on our intranet so we can exchange ideas.