Every 1 of 4 will meet the stroke in life. Proper medical care in the next 3 hours decreases significantly the risk of severe health consequences. Children spend a lot of time with their grand-parents, who are in the riskiest age group of the disease. The program is teaching children 6 to 9 y.o. to identify the symptoms of a brain stroke and to call adequately 112 for help. The children share the knowledge with their grand-parents, the whole family and the society, in general.

Haskovo municipality, south Bulgaria

Bulgaria is on 1st place in Europe for deaths from brain stroke. The main reason is that people do not recognize the symptoms and do not undertake adequate and timely measures. In Haskovo region there are big ethnical minority groups with low social status, which are out of the focus of health education on non-communicable diseases (NCD). The program will provide them with specific knowledge naturally through their children, children’s teachers, the project team members and the local structures and thus will include them in the local society as the members of every society need to have similar culture and knowledge, and health culture is a significant part of it.

In Haskovo municipality live approx. 95 000 people from which 20% is Turkish minority and 5% is Roma minority. While in the Bulgarian ethnic group 7+ years of age those with high school education are 86%, in the Turkish group these are only 4% and in the Roma only 1% and more than 26% never went to school. More than 25% of the population is lacking education and more than this they are lacking health education, which significantly decreases the quality of life and life expectancy. The program will be delivered to every child in class, regardless of its social or ethnical affiliation and all children will transfer knoledge to the elder, but we believe that in the minority groups the effect will most significant.

Every child, participating in the program, will pass a training which lasts 5 school hours within 1,5 months. During this time, the children learn how to unmistakably recognize the symptoms of a stroke and how to call 112 immediately if a loved one is hit by the stroke. FAST Heroes 112 / Бързи Герои 112 program includes the active participation of the parents and can be executed in class, entirely online or hybrid. The materials that the children use in the education are extremely entertaining, useful and interactive, and the specially developed program is completely free for the schools. A significant part of the program is also the sharing of the new knowledge with the elder in the form of personally addressed letters, active cards, posters and other materials. The program is designed especially for kids from a team of child psychologists and pedagogues. Via animations, colorful pictures and a lot of fun and entertainment, the children learn to take care of their grand-parents when they need help.

We aim to significantly increase the number of people who survive and diminish the consequences of a brain stroke when its symptoms are detected and timely medical care is taken. An average school class consists of 20 children. They will share the knowledge with 40 parents and 80 grand-parents. This means that 140 members of the society will know how to recognize and deal with the stroke – from one school class only! We will to include 1 500 children from the 17 schools and kindergartens in Haskovo municipality and thus we will manage to educate 10 500 people in total to properly react when the stroke hits to dramatically reduce the unwanted consequences of the disease.

The brain stroke, if not medically treated in the first 3 hours, causes 80% disability and 20% death. This is why it is very important to recognize its symptoms and to immediately call 112. This directly impacts the quality of life of people, personally, the whole family and the society in general. We believe that all people, regardless their differences of ethnics, politics, social status and religion, will work together and promote the knowledge as it may save lives – theirs, of their beloved relatives and the creates a healthier, more productive and more cohesive society as a whole.

FAST Heroes 112 is an international educational program created by the World Stroke Organization, the Angels Initiative and supported by the WHO. As citizens of Haskovo municipality we know the needs of the people there and the ambitions of the local structures to improve the quality of peoples’ life. We have a solid background and a lot of experience with health educational initiatives and health prevention activities. We have organized national and local campaigns for prevention of arterial hypertension, brain stroke, measurements of blood sugar and prevention of diabetes. We have experience in the field of pulmonology and common projects with Sofia Emergency and Medical and Pharmacy Universities in Sofia, Varna, Pleven, Plovdiv and Stara Zagora.

Educational materials - 36000 - 40%; Travel and accomodation - 3000 - 3%; Мedia - 5000 - 6%; Public events - 5000 - 6%; Training workshops - 4000 - 4%; Personnel costs - 12000 - 13%; Project management - 24000 - 27%;

We will highly appreciate all constructive ideas for improvement and better management of the program, its scaling-up, and other possible funding to ensure its growth in order to reach and impact more peoples' lives, strengthen the social bonds and inclosure of the minorities more local communities.