Program Service Area
The Enhanced Home Care: Stroke Recovery program is available to Edmonton residents living within the following postal code areas:
T5B, T5G, T5H, T5J, T5K, T5M,
T5N, T6A, T6B, T6C, T6E, T6G
Did You Know . . .
Rehabilitative home care is covered by many private insurance plans.
Home rehabilitation can enhance stroke recovery, especially when it’s hard to travel outside the home.
Imagine the joy of regaining independence, rediscovering old skills, and beginning to thrive after a stroke. Our home rehabilitation program is designed with these outcomes in mind, empowering home-bound patients to achieve stroke recovery with fewer clinic visits.
Led by our Clinical Nurse Therapist, Adam Henley is a Registered Nurse with additional training and experience in neurocognitive rehabilitation, mental health therapy, and restorative care. He delivers comprehensive stroke rehabilitation services through this program, tailored to your unique needs.
The brain demonstrates enhanced capacity to heal in the first 6 months after a stroke. As illustrated by this graph, there is a benefit to early and intensive access to stroke rehabilitation therapies.
Source: Bernhardt et al. (2017)
Is physiotherapy or chiropractic a better fit?
Our program excels in complex stroke rehabilitation for home-bound patients. However, we strongly recommend early connection to stroke-specialized physiotherapy or a chiropractic specialist for targeted mobility support.
Dr. Joseph Tanti is one of two Edmonton-area chiropractors who have completed post-doctoral fellowships in chiropractic orthopaedics and neuromusculoskeletal care. Chiropractic specialists like Dr. Tanti work alongside physiotherapists and massage therapists in their clinic, allowing them to confidently assess and treat a broad range of post-stroke functional syndromes, including: muscle spasms, hemiparesis, contractures, rigidity/spasticity and post-stroke pain.
Low-cost physiotherapy is also available via the Corbett Hall Student Physiotherapy Clinic. Student physiotherapists are supported by expert faculty at the University of Alberta. As a result, please flag that you are seeking support with neurological rehabilitation when booking your initial appointment.
With that said, the best care provider depends on your goals and needs after stroke. Other stroke-specialized providers include:
| Specialized Rehabilitation Outpatient (SROP) Clinic, Adults AHS Edmonton Zone | Referral required. Multidisciplinary assessments and short-term rehabilitation to support complex conditions. Team includes: physiatry and psychiatry, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, recreation therapy, social work, and psychologists. |
| Speech and Language Pathologists Private Practice | Open to self-referral. Speech Language Pathologists (R.SLPs) can improve speech and swallowing after stroke. A directory of stroke-specialized R.SLPs is maintained by the Alberta Speech-Language Association of Private Practitioners. |
| Enhanced Home Care This Program! | Open to self-referral. We proactively manage complex stroke outcomes, with a focus on improving post-stroke care for patients with barriers to travel outside the home. |
Home Care Makes a Difference!
Stroke recovery is a journey and the first six months are a critical period for care. Hundreds of research studies show that early access to home rehabilitation significantly enhances physical functioning, reduces complications, and improves psychological well-being. That’s why our program offers a wide-range of stroke recovery services to proactively address complex care needs after stroke.
Through this program, we aim to sustain:
- Improved home functioning
- Lower symptom burden
- A return to independence
We Assess and Treat Complex Stroke Outcomes
While every stroke is unique, some strokes produce post-stroke syndromes. Here’s some examples of model patients for the EHC-SR home care program:
“I keep walking into things.”
A retired ironworker experiences left-sided muscle weakness and reduced coordination after a right MCA ischemic stroke.
Visual neglect can occur when one side of the body is underutilized, narrowing a person’s field of view and increasing their risk of falls. Matched interventions (like visual scanning exercises) encourage patients to broaden their awareness. Within 2 to 4 weeks, most patients report improved visuomotor function and coordination.
“I want to eat normally.”
An award-winning chef dreams of eating regular meals after a hemorrhagic stroke but continues to report severe coughing after eating.
Swallowing issues (a.k.a., dysphagia) affect the vast majority of patients in the first month after a stroke. Food is an important source of life enjoyment, and it’s common to see patients rush their return to normal eating. Without professional supervision and coaching, choking and hospital readmission (due to aspiration pneumonia) is likely occur at home. We work with patients to ensure they can safely rediscover the joy of eating at home.
“What’s going on?”
A retired teacher is confused and disoriented after discharge from hospital with a lacunar stroke.
Acute confusion (a.k.a., delirium) can be caused by sudden changes in environment, certain medications, disease processes, and even pain. It is important to screen and assess for delirium, as it is often traced back to one or more highly-treatable factors. However, lacunar strokes are also a common cause of vascular dementia. In either case, we would screen for these conditions and ensure appropriate follow-up care is immediately arranged.
“There’s no point.”
A professional athlete gave up on the goal of walking again, six months after a left MCA stroke. They also stopped answering calls from family, who live outside Edmonton.
Symptom distress and depression often occur together, when symptoms stack on top of each other to cause distress. Additionally, left MCA strokes are commonly associated with speech impairments, which may make talking on the phone difficult. In this case, these symptoms would benefit from proactive management.
Care Delivered to Your Home
Our home rehabilitation program offers more than care. For some patients, it is their lifeline to stroke recovery.
The EHC-SR program specializes in providing intensive access to:
- Neuro-cognitive rehabilitation to address underlying brain health issues.
- Supervised home exercises to build strength and independence.
- ADL/functional coaching, nutrition support, and medication management to improve overall quality of life at home.
- Health coaching and counselling to improve overall physical and mental wellness.
In-home stroke care also empowers families, who sustain much of the work of care after stroke. Research confirms that home-based programs significantly improve physical functioning and overall well-being compared to traditional follow-up care.
Life Gets Better After Stroke
Research shows that home visiting programs also improve motivation and hope during stroke recovery, primarily by supporting emotional well-being at home.
Our home stroke rehabilitation program believes that effective recovery must go beyond surviving stroke – it’s about thriving at home. That’s why our Clinical Nurse Therapist, is also trained in advanced psychotherapy techniques for post-stroke care, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
His biopsychosocial approach helps patients manage complex emotions during stroke recovery, which often coincide with symptom and functional impairments.
If you think you are having a stroke, please immediately call 9-1-1.
Summary for Health Professionals
| Our enhanced home care program for stroke recovery . . . |
|---|
| Provides expert home care for Edmonton residents recovering from stroke. |
| Enhances capacity to independently complete daily tasks (BADLs) after stroke. |
| Helps manage various neuropsychiatric and physical symptoms to support post-stroke recovery. |
| Helps reduce frailty and the cognitive changes after major stroke events. |
| Coordinates intensive rehabilitation alongside symptom-based care. |
This home care program supports rehabilitation after stroke in Edmonton, Alberta. In fact, our program helps improve brain health with rehabilitative care strategies that complement usual care. We focus primarily on improving health-related Quality of Life (HR-QoL) using a capacity coaching approach. In turn, home stroke care can improve self-efficacy and expedite your patient’s return to life and/or work.
Our home care services are built around your patient’s financial resources. We typically seek direct coverage for nursing services via private health insurance plans. Our clinical team also closely collaborates with primary care and specialist teams to deliver evidence-based restorative care at home. In this way, our home stroke rehabilitation program enhances recovery after stroke.
Evidence-based therapies form an important part of our care. We frequently address health-system gaps to improve access to stroke rehabilitation services in Edmonton. This home care program also provides cognitive, functional, and psychosocial recovery to complement a patient’s existing treatment for stroke.
Limitations & Exclusions
We do not provide emergency care. If your patient is experiencing any sudden or unexpected neurological change, please do not refer them to this program. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) should be immediately activated for any suspected stroke at home.
Unique Features & Benefits
- We provide expert home care to enhance recovery after stroke.
- We help patients recover from stroke at home.
- We identify what is possible for stroke rehabilitation using evidence-based strategies.
- We work closely with other health professionals and home care services to mobilize the best possible team to enhance recovery after stroke.
Have questions?
Feel free to call us to talk about how to continue living independently after a stroke. We can likely share some great options for home stroke rehabilitation in Edmonton!
Other care options are also available in the Edmonton area.
There are many other community supports available to Edmonton residents. In many cases, other services could be a better fit for your health needs. Feel free to call us to help navigate these care decisions.
Alternate care options include: *
Rehabilitation Advice Line (1-833-379-0563) provides advice and linkages to rehab services.
Health Link Alberta (811) offers navigation, advice and referral to health services.
Networks Activity Centre (780-474-3363) provides social support for stroke recovery.
* ConsortiaCare.ca provides links to these external providers to help Edmonton residents self-refer to the best possible services for their health condition.