By: Lerato Moteane
On Friday, 24th of January, Home of Solace in Nguni Section,Vosloorus, held a stroke awareness and healthy lifestyle event.The community of Vosloorus were taught about the causes of stroke and how to take care of themselves. The event was joined by representatives from Vosloorus Poly Clinic, Department of Social Development and e’Pap,etc.
Winnie Mahlangu is a founder of Home of Solace and also a professional nurse.She started a wellness centre in her home to help the community with doing anything from their blood group or blood tests. The centre also assists with checking glucose, blood pressure,paternity tests pain management and wellness. Winnie is all about passing on the knowledge to the people, and that’s the reason she saw a need to hold the event.
Winnie said, the causes of stroke has to do with the way people eat, stress levels and smoking contributes to that also. “The more we instil knowledge to our people, is the more we will change the behaviour and lifestyle of people. Also as part of Home of Solace, we have patients who are coming to collect medication; we weigh them after three months and the moment we realise that they have lost weight, we need to find out the reason behind that – is it because the person is depressed, or there is lack of food at home or even financial problems? So at current, we had to share that information.she adds”
Justin Groeneweg from e’Pap,spoke about health and nutrition at the event, to spread awareness about the correct nutrition and micro-nutrient meals. “e’Pap is a nutritious instant porridge that has been around for 20 years. It was made to address the critical problem of hidden hunger in Africa, stunting these kinds of issues, illnesses that come from just lack of real nutrients and foods in the food industry nowadays,” Justin said.
Stroke can be prevented if it is acted upon during the early stages, says Winnie as she urges people to take better care of themselves. “The cause of stroke is high blood pressure ,people should get tested for high blood pressure and also diabetes. Eat correctly and avoid food that has lots of fats because cholesterol also contributes to that,” she said.
Home of Solace also advocates for the elderly people. “Every Wednesdays we have elderly people who are doing beadwork and spiritual healing so that they can avoid being alone during the day. When a person is alone it leads to stress, depression, they think too much; but when you’re amongst other people you get to share about even your problems and you also get to uplift each other,” concludes Winnie.
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