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Innovators in Healthcare Speaker Spotlight – neurologist Dr Anders West.
Despite innovations in technology and pharmacology, stroke is among the leading causes of mortality and disability worldwide, and the number one cause of death in the USA. Stroke-related costs in the United States alone added up to $56.2 billion between 2019 and 2020 – Stroke Facts.
Suffering a stroke will double your risk of dementia, with around 30% going on to present symptoms of cognitive decline within three years – Stroke and dementia risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis, Stroke, Vascular Dementia, and Alzheimer’s Disease: Molecular Links.
There is growing evidence of a robust link between the body clock, stroke risk and recovery: those of us living with a disrupted sleep-wake cycle from shift work or international travel are significantly more likely to suffer a stroke, while re-establishing the circadian cycle and reducing fatigue and depression are vital to swift and sustained recovery – The time dimension to stroke: Circadian effects on stroke outcomes and mechanisms.
So it’s an absolute privilege to introduce the remarkable neurologist Dr. West, who will share his findings from over 20 years of clinical practice.
Anders will share the results of the first non-pharmacological randomised clinical controlled trial to demonstrate that circadian lighting effectively combats and treats depression arising from stroke, effects observed even when accounting for antidepressant medication use. His work also revealed positive impacts on sleep and fatigue levels and circadian cycles in a range of physiological mechanisms from bone plasma to temperature.
Dr West will also share his work in residential care settings that identified a 71.2% reduction in the frequency of agitation-associated behaviors, with the frequency of some behaviors even reduced by 100% – An Explorative Investigation of the Effect of Naturalistic Light on Agitation-Associated Behavior in Nursing Home Residents With Dementia: A Pilot Study.
Anders will balance these glowing results with a pragmatic clinician’s perspective on the limitations of circadian lighting and summarise his recent systematic review to identify the ‘active ingredients’ in these interventions – Clinical outcomes of light therapy in hospitalized patients – A systematic review. the critical role of spectrum, the impact of duration (you need at least five days exposure for robust effects to emerge) and, although nursing staff generally prefer dynamic lighting, a ‘fit and forget’ approach is likely to fail, wasting time, money and goodwill. Every setting is unique in terms of layout and workflow, users need to understand why they should make the effort and know that support is on hand when things go wrong – as they inevitably will when you’re installing a smart solution. – Evaluation of staff’s perception of a circadian lighting system implemented in a hospital.
Speaker spotlight 2
Our second spotlight this week comes from the front line: Jim Hempel runs the Odense community care home in Denmark, one of the first in the region to install circadian lighting over eight years ago. Tight budgets meant that only one out of the cluster of five units got the upgrade, making this a unique setting for a direct comparison to calculate the return on investment for residents and staff. As far as Jim is concerned, the money is well-spent: marked reduction in agitation and falls, improved immune response and reduced sickness days for staff, well below the national average of 25 to 30 days per year. Jim is on a mission to get the circadian lighting in the other homes too and is confident they’ll all be upgraded by the end of 2027.
But it’s the personal stories that really bring the value alive: one resident arrived very withdrawn, barely moving from her chair. But within weeks, she was spending time in the common room, joining in with social activities and reconnecting with her family after years in the dark.
Please join us on the 17th of April to hear directly from Anders, Jim and our brilliant line-up of speakers. Link to register is here.
Women’s History Month
Time to shine a light on Hertha Ayrton, the first female member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, a pioneering electrical engineer and suffragette whose research into the arc lamps used in lighthouses laid the foundation for brighter, more efficient and reliable technologies we take for granted today. Although denied her degree at Cambridge and refused permission to read her own work at the Royal Society in 1902 because she was a woman, she did not give up, championing the cause of women in education and in science, establishing the International Federation of University Women in 1919 and helping to found the National Union of Scientific Workers in 1920.
Hertha struggled with ill-health, financial hardship and domestic duties but was finally able to establish her own laboratory thanks to the legacy of her friend and benefactor Barbara Bodishon, who covered the cost of a housekeeper – Luminous arc.
Although we’ve come a long way, women still carry the lion’s share of domestic chores (hybrid working means women do even more) – Flexible working – good for gender equality at home? – while women earn on average 84p for every £1 earned by her male equivalent, depending on who you ask – VFX Gender Pay Gap in the UK, Gender pay gap data can be catalyst for change in UK energy sector, Thorn Lighting Gender Pay Gap Data 2021/22.
It’s up to all of us to keep up Hertha’s incredible work
On the brighter side, here are some links to women making history in light and sight
And a podcast