Last year, I started attending the CVA Support Group at Swedish. I talked about it a couple weeks ago in my interview with Seth since that's where we met.
It's also where I started connecting with Bronwyn Rogers. I had actually met her a couple months earlier when I reached out to the hospital administration to explore ways we could work together as I launched this podcast.
This week we sat down at Cherry Street Espresso in Seattle's First Hill Neighborhood, right across the street from Seattle University. A very large and well behaved dog napped on the floor next to us. This is the kind of neighborhood where no one even notices when you set up your portable studio in the middle of the shop.
We talked about Bronwyn's career trajectory and just what it is that a Stroke Clinical Operations Coordinator does with her day.
Bio
Bronwyn was born into a family of medical professionals in Australia. Her own decision to enter the nursing field came during her senior year of high school. A close friend was hit by a motorcycle and spent 3 months in the hospital. As a regular visitor, Bronwyn grew to respect the care and attention the nurse gave her friend. That was Her inspiration to become a nurse.
Bronwyn worked as a cardiac nurse learning everything she could. Eventually she wanted to stretch herself in new areas and moved up the body to stroke care. The rapid changes in the stroke field over the last 15 years have opened all sorts of new opportunities to help patients recover more and faster while at the same time, there's a tremendous opportunity to reduce the number of strokes that happen.
Hack of the week
Acknowledge that you've had a brain injury and that things are going to suck. You're going to feel bad. Especially in the early days, you'll be hearing and receiving a lot of information that you may not retain because, well, you've just had a brain injury.
A personal advocate can be extremely important during your hospital stay. That may be a spouse, partner, relative, friend, etc. who can be there with you, retain more information than you can on your own and advocate on your behalf to the various hospital teams.
Links
| Swedish Cerebrovascular Center | https://www.swedish.org/services/neuroscience-institute/our-services/cerebrovascular-center |
| Swedish CVA Support Group | |
| Cherry Street Coffee House | |
| Find a support group | |
| Seth on Strokecast | |
| Strokecast Facebook Group | |
| Bill on Instagram |
Where do we go from here?
- Do you have experience with the non-US medical system as a professional? What are your thoughts on the autonomy vs hierarchical relationships in your system? Let us know in the comments at below or in the Facebook community at strokecast.com/FacebookGroup
- Subscribe to Strokecast for free in your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode.
- Don't get best…get better.
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