THUNDER BAY — In Canada, a stroke occurs every five minutes, which is why it’s important for young student to recognize stroke symptoms.
In late March, Grade 1, 2 and 3 students from St. Martin Elementary School celebrated the school's largest graduating class from the FAST Heroes program.
“Fast Heroes is an international health children's education program that really helps to guide people and children to understand stroke through a fun, animated adventure,” said Keli Cristofaro, Fast Heroes coordinator.
The program is five-weeks long, taught in the school system. The goal is for students to recognize stroke symptoms, especially in their grandparents, she said.
“We call them grandheroes, and we know children are spending time with their grandheroes and we want to make sure that if a stroke happens, they recognize the stroke and they can do life saving measures, call 911,” Cristofaro said.
Stroke is not taught in a scary way, she said.
“They fall in love with the characters right away, and from the animations to the materials that they learn about. It's actually done in a very fun way, and the whole theme is for them to become heroes, which we call fast heroes.
Cristofaro said there have been 15 documented saves across the world so far, and they are always hearing about more.
“One of the biggest concepts of Fast Heroes is that the children nominate two grandheroes, and so what happens is those envelopes go home with information for the grandheroes. Now we're doing a transfer of knowledge from the children to the families targeting the grandparents,” she said.
Cristofaro said the program can be hosted for any primary grade in Canada, the school emails to sign up, and a free package is sent to them.
Jennifer Edwards, teacher with Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, said the program is designed for Grades 1 to 3.
“Personally, I remember as a child, my grandmother had a type one diabetes. I was taught at a very young age how to call for help, because I spent a lot of time with her. Research shows that stroke is a high cause of death among older people and I feel like the bond that students have with their grandparents is really important and it's empowering for them to be able to know that they can do something to help,” she said.
Edwards said 82 students became Fast Heroes from St. Martin school this year.
