By Allison Currie
“You’ve had a stroke.”
According to March of Dimes Canada, one Canadian (or their loved ones) hears those words roughly every five minutes. While strokes often affect people over the age of fifty-five, twenty-five per cent occur in younger adults, and that number is rising.
A stroke usually means spending quite a bit of time in the hospital, but what happens when you’re discharged?
Depending on how the stroke has affected you (whether it has impacted your thinking, speech, or mobility) and the level of support you have at home, returning to daily life and the responsibilities that come with it can feel overwhelming, isolating and frightening.
That’s why March of Dimes Canada created the AfterStroke program.
After Stroke is a personalized recovery initiative that helps survivors and their families navigate life after a stroke that may include physical, cognitive, emotional and community supports.
“When stroke patients are in the hospital, they’ve just gone through something traumatic and are given a lot of information at once. When they go home, they may not remember everything, or they might struggle to understand the next steps and feel unsure where to turn,” says Lesley Austin-Smith, Stroke Coordinator at Valley Regional Hospital. “There’s real relief in knowing we can now refer stroke survivors to the After Stroke program when they leave the hospital.”
Lesley has become quite familiar with the After Stroke program over the last year as it is currently being piloted at Valley Regional Hospital and the Colchester East Hants Health Centre as part of a test and try. The test and try is being managed through the Nova Scotia Health Innovation Hub who champions the testing and implementation of new treatments, technologies, and solutions to strengthen healthcare through impactful partnerships like its work with March of Dimes Canada.
The program includes two key components:
• In-hospital support: During their hospital stay, a stroke survivor is paired with a trained Hospital Peer Connections volunteer who has lived through a stroke themselves, offering empathy, insight, and a listening ear during a vulnerable time.
• At-home support: Once home, a stroke navigator connects with survivors and their caregivers to assess individual needs and develop a personalized recovery plan. This support may range from helping someone enroll in programs such as Living Life to the Full to strengthen mental health, to identifying much-needed community resources—complementing the care plan established by medical and rehabilitation teams.
The goal of the After Stroke program is to help stroke survivors and their families navigate the recovery process and rebuild their lives in a way that allows them to be supported at home and lessen their chance of having to be readmitted to hospital.
Volunteers participating in the test and try are already seeing the program’s impact.
“I wanted to volunteer for the After Stroke Hospital Peer Connections program for a few key reasons,” says Mike Dunning, volunteer at Colchester East Hants Health Centre. “I reflected on my own stroke journey through 68 days in various hospitals and felt that I would have benefitted greatly from being on the receiving end of this program. While I am forever grateful for the incredible care I received from my Nova Scotia Health care providers, I would have welcomed the opportunity to talk to someone who had ‘lived it’.”
The program’s positive impact is also reflected in its enrollment numbers. While the pilot initially aimed to enroll 50 stroke survivors or caregivers, participation has now surpassed 90 and continues to grow—underscoring the strong demand for this type of support.
For March of Dimes Canada, drawing on and supporting stroke survivors in this way is exactly why After Stroke exists and they’re excited to have the program in Nova Scotia.
“The After Stroke pilot in Nova Scotia is giving survivors and caregivers the support they need to rebuild their lives,” says Rebecca Bourbonnais, Regional Director, March of Dimes Canada. “By providing consistent, community‑based recovery pathways, this initiative is showing how we can strengthen healthcare and improve outcomes for families across the province.”
As Nova Scotia continues to innovate across its healthcare system, programs like After Stroke show a clear path forward — care that extends beyond hospital walls and meets people where they are. It’s a promising step toward a future where every stroke survivor has the support they need to thrive.
