A Harvard Medical School assistant professor has been speaking to doctors, nurses and medical staff in Bermuda on the subject of strokes and rehabilitation treatment.

As part of the link-up between the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, Dr. Randie Black-Schaffer visited the Island to meet medical staff and other groups associated with the rehabilitation of the patients who have suffered strokes or trauma injuries such as those to the head or spine.

Each year some 400 patients from Bermuda are treated through a collaborative programme between the two hospitals.

Dr. Black-Schaffer, who is a medical director at Spaulding, has been passing on some of the latest information about stroke treatment and rehabilitation to the KEMH staff, particularly as it relates to young people in their 30s and 40s who suffer a stroke.

The reason for strokes at such a relatively young age can vary from genetic factors to a minor accident, such as one example she explained when a Bermudian was hit by a car door that had been blown by the wind.

The bruising injury later manifested itself in a stroke-inducing blood clot.

But there is also the question of poor lifestyle choices, she said.

?It is often an interplay between a genetic disposition and lifestyle. If you smoke or have diabetes or hypertension you have to live ?right? and be careful about your blood sugar and blood pressure,? said Dr. Black-Schaffer.

During her visit she has met with doctors, nurses and therapists at the KEMH who deal with patients who have suffered a stroke in the prime of life.

She is also intending to talk with other related groups including the Bermuda Stroke and Family Support Association to help enhance comprehension of the latest treatments and help maximise the number of patients who can receive such treatment.

Spaulding is recognised as one of the top rehabilitation hospitals in the US and its relationship with Bermuda allows doctors and therapists on the Island to learn from counterparts through visits and tele-medicine video conferencing. Dr. Black-Schaffer said: ?It has been a very smooth relationship and we have been able to be helpful to patients that have come to us.?