Health x Wellness

FAST Heroes 995 aims to raise children’s awareness of stroke

By  |  0 Comments

The Angels Initiative team at Boehringer Ingelheim and Singapore National Stroke Association officially launched the FAST Heroes 995 programme with PCF Sparkletots @ Bukit Gombak Blk 395A

The FAST Heroes campaign is a school-based programme developed by the Department of Education and Social Policy at the University of Macedonia. It has received support from The Angels Initiative by Boehringer Ingelheim. The programme is endorsed by the World Stroke Organisation and has reached over 114,000 children worldwide.

The FAST Heroes 995 programme seeks to promote stroke education with children from a young age. This can be with children ranging from five years of age to primary school ages (typically 7 – 12 years old). Through this programme, children are equipped with the ability to identify stroke symptoms and reinforces the importance of timely intervention to prevent disability and death caused by stroke.

The FAST Heroes 995 Programme

The FAST Heroes 995 programme recognises there is often a strong bond between a grandparent and grandchild.

The initiative hopes to tap on children’s enthusiasm for learning and see the information shared within the family, with a focus on the grandparents. A focus on grandparents is important as the mean age of Singapore stroke victims is 65 years old.

Leveraging on storytelling techniques, the programme introduces five superheroes to demonstrate to the children the causes of stroke, identifying stroke symptoms (F.A.S.T), and the action to take once they suspect someone is having a stroke.

Overall, the programme lasts five weeks and simplifies the topic through the use of informative and interactive videos, infographics, presentations and a workbook to educate the children.

Introducing the F.A.S.T Heroes

According to the programme materials, the superheroes adopt the acronym of “F.A.S.T”. F.A.S.T represents response actions to quickly spot the early warning signs of stroke. The superheroes are Frank the Face; drooping face, Arman the Arms; weakness in the arm, Sophia the Singer; speech difficulty and Timmy on Time; time to dial 995 for an ambulance. New to the superhero team is Tanya the Teacher who spreads the message of FAST Heroes 995 to her loved ones.

By utilizing mnemonic devices, the F.A.S.T acronym provides a helpful memory strategy to connect the superheroes to stroke symptoms and emergency actions.

At PCF Sparkletots, holistic learning is part of the education process for our children so they will be able to face the future with confidence. In line with our teaching pedagogy, the FAST Heroes 995 programme uses interactive and fun lessons to equip our children with the knowledge of stroke to help them be stroke-ready. We believe our young learners will take with them what they learnt here and impart that knowledge to the adults at home.

Victor Bay, Chief Executive Officer, PCF
FAST Heroes 995

Programme website: https://sg-en.fastheroes.com

Awareness, support and advocacy for the stroke community: https://snsa.org.sg

Visuals are credit to The Angels Initiative

Comments

comments