Reading service is just the ticket

HAPPY to help . . . (from left) reading service co-ordinator Sherry Ormerod, stroke patient Wilfred Larkin, sister Pamela Knowles, consultant Dr Joe Vassalo, former Hollyoaks actress Kathryn George, Adele Ward, ward clerk Sandra Edmondson and Duncan McGraw, from First Buses

A VITAL hospital reading scheme has been given a £2,500 boost by transport company First.

Former Hollyoaks star Kathryn George received the donation on behalf of the Royal Oldham Hospital Patient Reading Service.

Kathryn, who starred as Helen Cunningham in the Channel 4 soap, is a member of The Interact Reading Service, which regularly visits the Stroke Ward at the hospital to read books to patients.

First’s donation follows the company’s recent foundation of a regional charity committee.

Oldham has the highest incidence of strokes per capita of anywhere in the UK. The Interact Reading Service uses professionally-trained actors to read to and chat with patients to lift their mood and provide stimulation.

Actor/readers visit the stroke ward three times a week to read to patients, tailoring the material to the patient’s interests.

The service has been working with stroke patients at the Royal Oldham Hospital since 2006 and during the last year has carried out over 900 readings to 278 patients.

Kathryn said: “Actors are used as they have the specific skills required to get through to people whose ability to communicate and comprehend has been seriously impaired.”