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Speaker 1: Now there's been so much talk about politics this morning,

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Speaker 1: but you know what, I like catching up with everyday

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Speaker 1: hard working Territorians and finding out what's going on around

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Speaker 1: the place. And we actually know that last week was

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Speaker 1: indeed National Stroke Week. It aims to create awareness about

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Speaker 1: the signs of stroke so that members of the community

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Speaker 1: can really help to save the lives of a friend

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Speaker 1: or a loved one. And joining me in the studio

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Speaker 1: right now is stroke advocate, well known Territory and and

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Speaker 1: friend of the show, Richard Crooks. Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Wilfe. How I am I I'm.

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Speaker 1: Good mate, Thanks so much for joining us on the

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Speaker 1: show this morning. And last week was National Stroke Week?

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Speaker 1: What does it mean? You know? Why do you think

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Speaker 1: a week like that is so important?

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Speaker 2: Well as a stroker is getting more and more popular

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Speaker 2: throughout Australia and the territory. Yep, we just need to

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Speaker 2: get the message out there a bit more as much

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Speaker 2: as we can towards everyone and acknowledge, especially to the

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Speaker 2: younger generation, because it doesn't matter how old you are,

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Speaker 2: anyone can have a stroke. You know, not long ago

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Speaker 2: there was a young baby born that had a stroke

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Speaker 2: and the hospital didn't really recognize it. But the mother

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Speaker 2: actually did and took a video and showed it to

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Speaker 2: the hospital and then they asked to bring the baby,

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Speaker 2: and the baby it was actually straight Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Wow.

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Speaker 2: So it affects everyone, doesn't matter. You can be the

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Speaker 2: fittest person or the unfittest person, and you can it

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Speaker 2: can just hitch out. But the biggest thing is getting

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Speaker 2: the message out there and knowing what to do and

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Speaker 2: knowing the signs like you know, you know, face troop,

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Speaker 2: slurred speech, can't lift your arms or anything like that,

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Speaker 2: and the first three things to check and then gets

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Speaker 2: too immediate, you know, hospital care straight away, Crooksy.

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Speaker 1: The work you've been doing since you yourself had to

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Speaker 1: strike to really raise that awareness. It is something that

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Speaker 1: like a lot of people are sitting up and they're listening,

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Speaker 1: and I understand recently, well, one of your friends, I

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Speaker 1: hope you don't mind me raising, actually was in a

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Speaker 1: situation where some of that advice that you have given

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Speaker 1: was absolutely pivotal.

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Speaker 2: Yeah mate, yeah, yeah, on this occasion. You know, some

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Speaker 2: friends of mine who actually have a bit to do

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Speaker 2: with another friend of mine who actually had a stroke

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Speaker 2: and they're away camping for the weekend down at Kamali

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Speaker 2: and long term friend of mine and his partner and

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Speaker 2: they went for a walk around in the bush, looking,

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Speaker 2: exploring and doing some stuff and his partners stayed back

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Speaker 2: at the car and they actually I gave him a

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Speaker 2: couple of well, they bought a couple of my stubbed

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Speaker 2: callers I have which I got made up thanks to

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Speaker 2: Garrett moo Gully. You helped me get them done, and

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Speaker 2: I sell them to raise money for the Stroke Foundation.

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Speaker 2: And they had one of those callers with him and

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Speaker 2: they went off in the bush walking around and then

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Speaker 2: come back and my mate's partner was sitting in the

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Speaker 2: chair looking at it and she looked, you know, she

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Speaker 2: wasn't right, and he was talking. There was no response,

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Speaker 2: and he's asked her and asked her a couple of

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Speaker 2: times what's going on, and she was just all she

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Speaker 2: could do is not She was nodding towards my stubboach

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Speaker 2: caller which she had sitting in the end, and she goes, well,

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Speaker 2: crooksy and she's nodding, not what You've had a stroke.

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Speaker 2: So he realized what was going on and got her

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Speaker 2: in the car and zoomed back to get help. As

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Speaker 2: soon as possible, and thankfully that he made the decision.

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Speaker 2: He was back at camp at the right time and

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Speaker 2: he realized what was going on by her nodding towards

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Speaker 2: my stubic coller, because if he had been a little

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Speaker 2: bit later, it could have been a lot worse. But

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Speaker 2: she's doing okay now. But yeah, it just goes to

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Speaker 2: show it can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere.

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Speaker 1: That's exactly right, really can crooksy tell us what are

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Speaker 1: the main signs that people need to look out for and.

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Speaker 2: What we need to be aware of. Well, first thing

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Speaker 2: is the drooping lifts of the face in this speech,

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Speaker 2: you know, and if that's happening, and then can't ask

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Speaker 2: them lift their arms, they can't lift their arms, Well,

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Speaker 2: that's time to get help, medical help, a SAP as

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Speaker 2: quick as you can, because you know those first first,

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Speaker 2: you know, twenty minutes, half an hour, what it is

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Speaker 2: to get to medical help is the most critical. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: you know, that's what we could just be careful because

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Speaker 2: it can just happen out of the blue.

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Speaker 1: It truly can. And I think you'd be hard pressed

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Speaker 1: to probably find a family in the Northern Territory whose

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Speaker 1: life hasn't been impacted by stroke in one way or another.

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Speaker 1: It's more prevalent than people realize exactly.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's one in four Austrains will be affected by

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Speaker 2: a stroke in one way or another. Yeah, And it's

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Speaker 2: just getting more and more and more. And you know

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Speaker 2: it's we got to keep getting the message out there.

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Speaker 2: And you know our great physios and nurses we have

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Speaker 2: who just had another Code yellow. You know, now we

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Speaker 2: can get on the political thing if you want to do.

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Speaker 2: What are they doing? Yeah? And you know I go

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Speaker 2: back to Adelaide again in September, and because I have

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Speaker 2: a lot to do with the straight professors and people

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Speaker 2: in the straight wards in South Australia, and they just

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Speaker 2: when I go back there, opening a new twenty six

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Speaker 2: bed with a single rooms, so room for every patient

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Speaker 2: in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Because that's how bad it's getting.

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Speaker 2: Like my professor looks after seven hundred straight patients. Wow,

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Speaker 2: that's him himself, you know. So it's getting worse and worse.

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Speaker 1: Crookxy from your perspective in the Northern Territory. And you know,

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Speaker 1: I want to be really positive towards the amazing healthcare professionals,

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Speaker 1: our doctors, nurses, everybody that works in this space. I've

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Speaker 1: no doubt they're working their absolute bums off. But I mean,

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Speaker 1: could there be more support for those that have suffered

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Speaker 1: strokes in the Northern Territory Yes, well.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you know it's like I visit regularly. Friends

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Speaker 2: or people ask me to go and see if their

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Speaker 2: family members have straight to help them get some information

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Speaker 2: and help them push on. And our nurses and our

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Speaker 2: physios are doing the best they can and the ots,

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Speaker 2: but there's no room for them. Like the last time

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Speaker 2: I was at the Palmerston rehibe possible there was straight

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Speaker 2: patiency with other people for rehabilitation. Yeah, but there was

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Speaker 2: twenty five beds they're all full, and they were making

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Speaker 2: room to put six extra beds in a confined area.

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Speaker 2: And plus the public hospital was already full, and you

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Speaker 2: know there was another five strake patients in the public

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Speaker 2: hospital waiting. Wow.

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Speaker 1: And let's be real about this, like, you know, stroke

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Speaker 1: patients actually desperate, like you need that support. It is

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Speaker 1: not a situation where you can just be said time right.

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Speaker 2: Well, you know the first three months is most critical

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Speaker 2: for any straight patient and to have your own room

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Speaker 2: for privacy and everything else, because it's damn it's the

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Speaker 2: whole life changing when someone has a straight, trust me,

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Speaker 2: not just for the person having a stracas for the

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Speaker 2: family and friends and everyone else. And the last thing

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Speaker 2: you want to be doing is sharing a room with

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Speaker 2: someone else. And you need that constant physiotherapy from me,

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Speaker 2: either someone who is certified or someone who is just

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Speaker 2: getting in there and giving mate Lindsay Leslie did for

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Speaker 2: me and my other friends, pushing me every day, you know,

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Speaker 2: because I needed it, you know, And there are things

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Speaker 2: you don't know until you actually have a straight, but

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Speaker 2: the first three three months is a most critical and

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Speaker 2: we just haven't got the facilities or the staff. And

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Speaker 2: you know, these political parties are drumming up and promising

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Speaker 2: the world to everyone, but there's not one word about

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Speaker 2: stroke in you know what.

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Speaker 1: There's been hardly any word about health more generally and

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Speaker 1: delivering health services in the Northern Territory more generally. And then,

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Speaker 1: like you touched on before you know, the hospital's in

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Speaker 1: a code yellow again last week. I don't know that

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Speaker 1: we've ever experienced so many code yellows is what we

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Speaker 1: have in recent times. And it's not until you actually

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Speaker 1: need support at the hospital, or until you go through

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Speaker 1: a health episode that you realize how important it is

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Speaker 1: to make sure that we've got all the services that

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Speaker 1: we need in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: Well, spending five months in the hospital here in Darwin's

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Speaker 2: the biggest eye opener for me, and then spending another

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Speaker 2: month in the Memorial Hospital in Adelaide. And like I said,

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Speaker 2: the staff do the best they can, and they really do,

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Speaker 2: but their hands are tied. We need more professionals and

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Speaker 2: we need the beds and the rehabilitation centers for these people. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: you know, and it's not just for straight people. It's

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Speaker 2: age people and amputees and everything. We just we need

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Speaker 2: it and we haven't got it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Crooksy, Before I let you go this morning, mate,

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Speaker 1: what is your key message really to everybody out there

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Speaker 1: listening this morning when it comes to stroke awareness and

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Speaker 1: making sure that they know the science well?

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Speaker 2: And so I said, I'm doing my best with my

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Speaker 2: stubby callers, getting them out there for people to see,

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Speaker 2: you know, and they can buy them from me. I

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Speaker 2: wear my shirt and my support people wear their shirts

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Speaker 2: with me, and I get the message out there. But

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Speaker 2: you know, I want to get out into the schools

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Speaker 2: and get the message out to the young kids because

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Speaker 2: they learn and you know, like I said, everyone's.

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Speaker 1: Well and do you know that's the thing, the reality

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Speaker 1: of it is. You know, even when like when you

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Speaker 1: look at a lot of little families, very often you know,

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Speaker 1: mum or dad is spending time on their own with

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Speaker 1: the children because the other parent might be out, you know,

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Speaker 1: at work or whatever. And really in a lot of instances,

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Speaker 1: I would suspect that children do need to know exactly

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Speaker 1: what those signs are because it could be them who

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Speaker 1: who are potentially with a parent or a grandparent or

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Speaker 1: a sibling when something like this happens.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's exactly right. And like I said, it can

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Speaker 2: happen anytime, and the kids learn really quick, yep. And

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Speaker 2: if they know they know everything about everything, well they

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Speaker 2: think they do, but they pick up when they listen

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Speaker 2: and they look in their land. So you know, if

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Speaker 2: we can get the message out to the younger generations,

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Speaker 2: it's even better. Yeah. So you know that's my one

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Speaker 2: of my things is to try and get the message

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Speaker 2: out to the school and raise more awareness. So you know,

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Speaker 2: good on you. You've got our big stride for stroke

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Speaker 2: coming up in November. Hopefully you're going to join me. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: What I have to do is walking with me. Yeah right,

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Speaker 2: so we can walk. I'm up to it. Taking me

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Speaker 2: three years now, I can walk a kilometer without having

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Speaker 2: your break. Awesome, So we may be walking that far.

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Speaker 2: Maybe we can walk along the ESPLRD.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, I can do that, even.

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Speaker 2: Call passing it.

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Speaker 1: Good idea, mate, I'd love to do that. Absolutely, we'll

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Speaker 1: do it when I get off here one day. Hey, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'll be up for that. And hey, if anybody's out

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Speaker 1: there listening this morning, is there's somewhere where they can

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Speaker 1: purchase your shirts and also your stubby callers.

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Speaker 2: Yep, they can give me a buzz or maybe I

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Speaker 2: can leave something here with you guys.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, or you can look and we'll make sure if

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Speaker 1: people call through, we'll get the details to you so that.

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Speaker 2: They can purchase sixty dollars and half that money goes

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Speaker 2: so thirty dollars that goes to the Strake Foundation and

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Speaker 2: the stubmoy callers are ten dollars, and five dollars from

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Speaker 2: every caller goes to the Strake Foundation.

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Speaker 1: You're a bloody legend.

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Speaker 2: We've got to keep getting the message out there. Maybe

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Speaker 2: that's what we have to do.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, Crooksy, thanks so much for coming in this morning.

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate it. Thank you,