Did You Know?!?
Canadian Stroke Best Practices recommend early and proactive management of post-stroke functional syndromes.
Home rehabilitation can enhance stroke recovery, especially when it’s hard to attend clinic visits.
Edmonton residents with health insurance coverage may qualify for fully-funded home care with our Clinical Nurse Therapist, Adam. As a Registered Nurse, Adam Henley has completed additional post-graduate training in cognitive rehabilitation, mental health therapy, and restorative care.
Call (780) 851-9717, or
.Early. and .proactive. home care makes a difference
Left or right-sided paralysis
A retired ironworker has left-sided muscle weakness and a loss of coordination after a Right MCA ischemic stroke. Over the past month, he started walking into things, falling and injuring his shoulder.
Visual neglect can occur when patients stop using one side of their body to perform daily tasks (e.g., hemiparesis). Over time, this results in a narrowing of visual attention towards the side they use. We often treat visual neglect within 2-4 weeks by prescribing brief interventions (like visual scanning) and encouraging patients to search for things outside their immediate field of view.
Eating & swallowing function
An award-winning chef was placed on short-term disability after a hemorrhagic stroke. She is determined to eat normally again, but currently coughs when swallowing food. She is managing her own enteral nutrition (tube feeds) at home.
Swallowing issues (a.k.a., dysphagia) affect the vast majority of patients in the first month after a stroke. However, eating is an important part of life, and many patients rush their return to normal eating, increasing the risk of airway obstruction (choking), aspiration pneumonia, and hospital readmission after stroke. We work with patients to supervise a gradual return to eating, adopting safer strategies while also ensuring this important goal for rehabilitation is not ignored.
Confusion & disorientation
A retired teacher is very confused and disoriented after discharge from hospital with a lacunar stroke. Despite brief moments of lucidity, his alertness shifts from drowsy to agitated within hours. No one at home is sleeping well, as he recently started wandering outside (especially at night).
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 of more highly-treatable factors. However, lacunar strokes are also a common cause of vascular dementia. Either way, we would urgently assess and treat this condition to prevent hospital readmission or transfer to long-term care.
Quality of life
A retired Olympic athlete recently gave up on her goal of walking again, six months after a Left MCA stroke. She told her family “there is no point” living anymore, and stopped answering calls from them. She also reports severe burning pain in her right hand alongside right arm stiffness.
Symptom distress and depression often occur when symptoms ‘stack’ on top of each other, causing distress. Left MCA strokes are also commonly associated with speech impairments, which may make talking on the phone difficult. In this case, all of these symptoms require assessment. For example, we can assess whether the muscle stiffness in her right hand is the result of untreated pain or due to a loss of motor neurons in the brain (rigidity vs. spasticity), as each condition is treated differently.
As illustrated by the above examples, our home rehabilitation program goes beyond basic care to facilitate a wide-range of stroke rehab therapies within your home. We comprehensively assess and treat neurological needs. Our Clinical Nurse Therapist also provides health coaching, counselling, functional training, nutrition support, medication management, and supervised home exercise.
In-home stroke rehab reduces the burden of care when patients can’t travel to appointments, allowing patients to achieve rehabilitation goals between follow-up visits. Research shows home visiting programs improve functional outcomes compared to both social care and routine clinic follow-up.
Early, intensive stroke rehab improves health
Within the scientific literature, home care programs for stroke rehabilitation are also associated with improved physical function, reduced stroke complications, and greater well-being.
Is physiotherapy a better fit?
We recommend early connection to stroke-specialized physiotherapists, although coverage for physiotherapy may be limited. Early and extensive physical therapy has also been shown to improve overall functioning, mobility and independence after stroke. That is why we work closely with physiotherapists to help them establish treatment goals and guide certain aspects of care.
Stroke-specialized physiotherapy is available in Edmonton via Granville Physiotherapy and InStep Physical Therapy as well as the Corbett Hall Student Physiotherapy Clinic (low cost physiotherapy).
However, the best provider fit also depends on your primary functional deficits, stroke recovery goals, and medical needs.
Other stroke-specialized providers in Edmonton:
| 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 psychology. |
| 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.) |
| Home Stroke Rehabilitation This Program | Open to self-referral. We proactively manage complex stroke outcomes, with a focus on improving stroke rehabilitation at home. |
Do you provide counselling to patients recovering from stroke?
Yes, we do! Our Clinical Nurse Therapist, Adam Henley, is extensively trained in various psychotherapy methods, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
Home stroke rehabilitation also provides mental health benefits. Research shows that home visiting programs can help maintain motivation and hope during recovery, support emotional well-being, and enhance mental health recovery.
Did You Know?!?
Many patients experience depression after stroke. Common stroke symptoms (like pain, paralysis, paresthesias, and speech impairments) also interfere with psychological well-being during stroke recovery. Your counselling provider should proactively assess these symptoms in tandem with your emotional health.
Our biopsychosocial approach helps patients and caregivers easily manage complex emotions during their stroke recovery journey, promoting mental health and peace of mind for your family.
Life gets better after stroke.
Our home stroke rehabilitation program includes comprehensive nursing care for:
- Post-stroke symptoms
- Mobility limitations
- Speech and swallowing deficits
- Cardiovascular risk factors
- Cognitive changes
- Emotional concerns
Don’t miss your opportunity for stroke recovery.
* See Schedule of Health Service Fees for an itemized list of nursing fees
If you think you may be having a stroke, please immediately call 9 1 1 or go to your nearest Emergency Department.
Summary for Health Professionals
| Our 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 rehabilitative 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 rehabilitation 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!