Passport project for stroke victims

ENTERPRISING students from the Meridian School , Royston, are appealing for help with producing communication passports for stroke victims.

The Year 12 applied business students have been working on a project in conjunction with Royston Stroke Club, which would see them produce customisable passports for people who have difficulty with communication.

Mandy Byrne, from Royston Stroke Club, said: "At the moment there isn't a standard design, even though a lot of the information is the same for everyone. So I contacted the college to see if they could help.

"It's been great having the children coming in during the last few weeks. The members of the stroke club have got a lot out of it and I think the students have too."

The students have to design and produce a project as part of their course, and after speaking to Mandy decided to take up the challenge of producing the passports.

A spokesman for the group said: "We have attended several meetings of the Stroke support group over the last month in order to understand how people have been affected by strokes and how the communication passports can help them."

They have come up with a prototype design, which includes pages displaying numbers, letters, and times and dates, together with blank pages which can be filled in with details of each individual.

The spokesman added: "To be able to succeed in this project we need funding and sponsorship from businesses and any individuals who can help in this task."

Julie Steward, speech therapist for the Royston area, said: "Communication passports are really useful. Often stroke victims have no problem understanding things, but have trouble making themselves understood."

Anyone who would like to sponsor the project should contact the students at Meridian School on 01763 242236.