Welcome to the last issue of StrokeNet for 2002. All of us have a lot to be thankful for as we end this year and start 2003. Included in Steve Mallory's Organization Highlights this month is a report of the Augmentative Speech and Communication Assistive technology conference held online at the end of November. David Ray reports to us from New Zealand sharing how his wife and he have had to exchange jobs since his stroke. Rhonda Peterson contributes an article sharing her struggle with Holiday Trees post stroke.

In his column this month Steve reminds everyone of the open board and staff positions. Next he announces where you can see pictures from the golf tournament fundraiser, Strokes for Strokes

He reports on the Augmentative Speech and Communication Assistive technology conference was held online at the end of November. Steve writes info on the head pointer and on-screen keyboard which he has found invaluable. Included are links to the web pages associated with these products.

Finally, he discusses organization membership and names that have been removed. He includes a link, which lets you view the list of email addresses. These folk are from the old system and will have to re-register in order to continue receiving emails.

Read Steve's Remarks...

	Life in New Zealand with a Stroke, by David G. Ray
David reflects on some of the role reversals he and his wife have experienced since his stroke. He then reports that his stroke club was visited by firemen. They presented a program which emphasized fire prevention.       David's Article... »

	Trimming the Tree, by Rhonda Peterson
Rhonda writes about tree trimming. She found that it was difficulat to manage a large "real" tree following her stroke. Rhonda has found that a smaller artificial tree kept permanently decorated works fine.       Trimming the Tree... »

	Communicating with our Caregivers, by Paulina Perez
This holiday season is a chance for all stroke survivors to give to their caregivers and to caregivers to give to the one for whom the care. What better gift than the gift of communication. This article was first published in StrokeNet in July 2001. We hope it gives each of us some ideas, which help our communication.       The Article... »

	Website Review, by Barbara Layne
Barbara introduces us to the neurology channel website. It gives information and provides links to other websites. It covers assorted neurological conditions.       Website Review... »

	Bios: Paul Burroughs and Vicky Beard
Paul Burroughs is a reader from New Zealand who has had two strokes. He shares with us his experiences of shifting from the private sector to working with the Stroke Foundation New Zealand. He also offers a link to the Foundation's website. Vicky Beard is 60 years old and has had 5 strokes. But, she keeps learning and relearning. She is an example to us all to continue to work at it.     Bios... »

	About Us
What is The Stroke Network? Where did it come from? Who are the people that work there? Read the FAQ if you would like to know. Just with is FAQ? I've seen it on the Internet several times but I've never understood what it stood for. What is FAQ and why does our organization have these letters? FAQ is an acronym for Frequently Asked Questions. It's basically questions that most people are going to ask if they want to know about your web site and service. Our organization has a FAQ in order to give you some background information and insight into our organization. The FAQ is linked from virtually every single page on our whole web site. If you scroll down the page and look on the left column you will see a button with a question mark. Click on the button and you will be hyperlinked to our FAQ web page. You will learn about the formation of our organization and it's history. You can find out who are our partners and learn about our basic policies. Most of the frequently asked questions can be found here but if you have more please let us know. About Us »

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