作者： admin

Marking World Physiotherapy Day celebrations across Barbados on Tuesday, a leading healthcare professional from the island’s primary public hospital has sounded the alarm on a startling local stroke crisis, revealing at least two cases of stroke are recorded every single day in the small Caribbean nation.

Dr. Stacey Boyce, Acting Chief Physiotherapist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), made the revelation during the hospital’s annual Open Day event, where this year’s global observance centered on cardiovascular disease management, stroke prevention and treatment, and the critical role of physiotherapists in supporting stroke patients. “Strokes happen at least twice a day in Barbados, and that’s an alarming number,” Boyce emphasized, framing the day’s public outreach around a core message: proactive prevention remains the most effective tool against the life-altering condition.

Beyond prevention, Boyce sought to reassure the public that a stroke diagnosis does not mean a permanent loss of independence. She explained that targeted physiotherapy and consistent physical activity can help patients regain functional ability and maintain autonomy after an event, even when outcomes do not deliver a full return to pre-stroke health.

Stroke rehabilitation is far more time-intensive than recovery from common musculoskeletal injuries, Boyce noted. While a biceps injury typically heals within six weeks, stroke recovery can take 12 months or longer, and patients with moderate to severe disability often face a years-long journey to regain function. “Strokes are one of those difficult conditions to manage,” she explained. “Persons can get strokes where they have mild disability, but there are also several people who have moderate to severe disability. That is very difficult to rehabilitate, and having a stroke can take a long time to rehabilitate.” Even when full recovery is not possible, she added, physiotherapy intervention helps patients achieve enough independent function to substantially improve their quality of life, with many patients successfully returning to work and daily routines after treatment.

As part of prevention guidance, Boyce highlighted uncontrolled high blood pressure as one of the leading modifiable risk factors for stroke, urging all Barbadians to know their blood pressure numbers. Because hypertension rarely presents obvious symptoms in its early stages, many people live with the condition undiagnosed, putting them at unknowingly high risk of a stroke. “If you don’t know that you’re hypertensive, you can have a stroke,” she warned.

She also encouraged the public to learn the varied warning signs of stroke, stressing that symptoms are not uniform across all patients. Common red flags include facial drooping, slurred speech, weakness or numbness on one side of the body, impaired balance, and sudden severe headache. Boyce emphasized that time is a critical factor in stroke care, so anyone experiencing these symptoms should seek emergency hospital care immediately rather than dismissing them as a temporary issue.

To reduce stroke risk long-term, Boyce urged Barbadians of all ages to prioritize consistent physical activity, noting that the heart, like all other muscles in the human body, requires regular movement to stay strong. “Stay active across their lifespan from childhood into adulthood,” she said. “We want to encourage activity. We want to encourage movement.” For people with busy desk-bound schedules, she offered accessible solutions: a compact stationary pedal bike that fits under a work desk, five-minute sessions of arm punches, and purposeful brisk walking all offer effective heart-healthy movement. “Whether it’s running, walking, cycling, dancing – pick whichever one works for you, but the important thing is to get moving in order to stay healthy,” Boyce added.

Beyond stroke-specific care, Boyce outlined the broad scope of modern physiotherapy, noting the specialty supports patients from newborn infants to elderly adults, managing conditions ranging from sports injuries and musculoskeletal pain to neurological disorders, cardiovascular disease, vertigo, and recovery after amputation.

To continue the public health outreach tied to World Physiotherapy Day, the Barbados Physical Therapy Association is scheduled to host an inclusive 3K/5K walk/run on September 13. The event is designed to welcome participants of all ability levels, including runners, walkers, and people using wheelchairs, scooters, and motorized chairs, with Boyce encouraging broad public participation.

Against a backdrop of increasing transboundary disease spread, Barbados’ top veterinary authority has issued a urgent call for the island nation to uphold robust monitoring, diagnostic testing, and biosecurity frameworks to safeguard both national food security and public health from invasive animal and foodborne pathogens. In an exclusive interview with Barbados TODAY, Chief Veterinary Officer Dr. Mark Trotman emphasized that the current absence of local outbreaks does not equate to the elimination of underlying risks, stressing that multiple dangerous diseases remain persistent, latent threats to the entire Caribbean region.

Foremost among these threats is African swine fever, a highly contagious and deadly viral disease that affects domestic and wild swine. Trotman noted that the virus has never been fully eradicated from the Caribbean since it was first detected in the Dominican Republic nearly a decade ago. “It remains entrenched in the region, retains full virulence, and spreads extremely easily between populations,” he explained. “We cannot afford to lower our guard against this hazard at any point.”

Trotman’s warning came during a regional workshop focused on rapid response protocols for African swine fever, held Tuesday at the Hilton Barbados Resort. The training event was coordinated by Barbados’ Ministry of Agriculture, in partnership with leading regional and international agricultural bodies including the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and drew public health and veterinary professionals from across the Caribbean basin.

Beyond African swine fever, Trotman named highly pathogenic avian influenza, more widely known as bird flu, as another ongoing, high-stakes threat. The disease has shifted from being primarily spread through international livestock trade to being carried by migratory wild birds, which pass through the Caribbean’s migratory corridors every single year as part of their seasonal travel routes. “This seasonal migration pattern creates a permanent risk that the virus will be introduced into Barbados’ domestic bird and poultry populations at any time,” Trotman said.

Two additional transboundary animal diseases—foot-and-mouth disease, which affects cloven-hoofed livestock, and screwworm disease, a parasitic infection that targets warm-blooded animals—also top the island’s watchlist. Trotman described the steady spread of screwworm through South America, Central America, and into parts of the southern United States as “deeply alarming” and a reminder of how quickly animal diseases can expand their geographic range.

Recent events in the United States further underscore the urgency of sustained preparedness, Trotman argued. Over the past 12 months, the U.S. has faced a string of widespread foodborne disease outbreaks linked to common pathogens including Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria monocytogenes, and Campylobacter. These outbreaks have been traced to a wide range of food products, from leafy greens and fresh berries to raw milk cheeses, pre-packaged ready-to-eat pasta salads, and undercooked poultry. Several of these outbreaks have spread across multiple U.S. states, prompting nationwide product recalls and widespread public health alerts.

These incidents highlight a common public misconception, Trotman noted: many people fail to recognize that all food, particularly food of animal origin, carries inherent baseline risks that require active management. “A robust, continuously operating surveillance and testing system is non-negotiable to keep these risks under control,” he said.

However, Trotman also warned that maintaining these critical protective systems faces consistent challenges, most notably resource constraints. “It’s all too common for vigilance to slip when there are no active outbreaks,” he explained. “Budgets get cut, staffing levels are reduced, and workforce gaps go unfilled. These incremental weaknesses can erode biosecurity infrastructure over time, creating openings for pathogens to take hold and spark an outbreak.”

Even the most well-designed surveillance systems are not 100 percent foolproof, Trotman acknowledged, and outbreaks can still occur even with strong protections. But he stressed that the island nation’s single greatest defense against transboundary disease threats is sustained, unbroken vigilance, even when no local outbreaks are occurring. “We have to consistently maintain our biosecurity and monitoring mechanisms, even when it looks like there is no immediate danger. The threat is always present, lurking below the surface,” he said. “We can never afford to stop being alert.”

In closing, Trotman emphasized that as global travel and trade continue to create pathways for diseases to cross international borders, failures in biosecurity and regulatory oversight can carry severe, long-lasting consequences for food systems and public health. “Outbreaks almost always trace back to a break in the biosecurity or regulatory controls we have in place. The threat is constant, so our preparedness must be constant too.”