Gladys Perepluk and Olga Balysky are the face of ‘Purple Day’ in Yorkton, helping to spread epilepsy awareness.
“Purple Day is right clear across Canada, and a young lady came up with this. She had epilepsy, and she was about 12 years old [at the time].
“Then Saskatoon basically took over and started to promote it.
“Any other organization that has a colour to it adds a colour to it.
“There’s an artist from Toronto that comes in and does a lot of paintings,” Perepluk said. This artist goes on to sell his paintings and gives the proceeds to the university hospital.
“My granddaughter does a lot of speaking on behalf of epilepsy and people that do have epilepsy, and she works quite closely with Dr. Tellez-Zentano from Saskatoon. He’s the surgeon there.”
“People need to be aware that there is help, and because it is sort of ‘hidden’, people are afraid to ask about it.
“I have a niece with epilepsy,” said Balysky.
“She’s been, you know, driving and been in accidents, gets one of them [seizures] and, well...”
She trails off.
“The most important thing is to know what to do in a first aid sense.”
She passes a purple card that can handily fit in a wallet for easy reference.
The common sense tips on the reference card are simple but make sense -- namely avoiding choking hazards.
According to the Canadian Epilepsy Alliance First Aid card:
1. Don’t panic. You can help.
2. Allow plenty of space
3. Protect from injury
4. Loosen anything tight around neck.
5. Put something soft under head
6. Turn to the side to prevent choking
7. Never put anything in mouth
8. Never restrain!
9. Longer than 5 minutes-call an ambulance
10. After, offer support and allow rest.
Supports exist at the hospital too if one calls and asks.
For more information, visit: www.canadianepilepsyalliance.org and www.purpleday.org.
